Data partnerships offer strategic business opportunities

There are already tens if not hundreds of ecosystems involving Finnish companies. Many lessons can be learned from these existing ecosystems concerning their structures, purposes and the industries that have already started to use the means of joint value creation.

Sitra’s working paper “Business ecosystems are creating new business opportunities for asymmetric partners” provides valuable information on these topics, as it collates key findings from a study on the collaboration between large companies and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in business ecosystems formed around data sharing between partners.

The research findings show that it is beneficial for asymmetric partners to collaborate and share data, as it allows them strategic opportunities and operational benefits such as reduced costs and avoided risks. Organisations were also able to reach new customer segments and gain new revenue streams.

The working paper is part of Sitra’s Fair data economy project which offers tools and solutions for competitive European data markets where data is shared ethically, transparently and under shared rules. The IHAN business programme, taking place during autumn 2020 and the start of 2021 is a pilot project where 22 Finnish SMEs started building new business from data according to the principles of the fair data economy.