Despite the hype surrounding the potential impacts of Big Data in certain areas – both positive and negative – very little is known about the full range of possible impacts, or what factors will determine which of these actually happen.
To begin to address this knowledge gap from a development perspective, this project explores the long-term implications of Big Data for developing countries. Using the Foresight approach, scenarios of potential impacts will be developed in key areas (economic, social, environmental) and the drivers that will shape these outcomes will be identified and analysed. Having mapped these possible ‘futures’ the final stage of the research will examine how policy might influence these outcomes, specifically to enhance the positive impacts of Big Data on developing countries, while mitigating the most important risks.