Economic Impact Evaluation of ESDS

ESDS generates value for money

An economic evaluation of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) reveals that for every pound currently invested in data and infrastructure, the service returns £5.40 in net economic value to users and other stakeholders. This compares favourably with the return on investment previously demonstrated for the British Library and for UK academic libraries in general.

The report, commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and prepared by external consultants, aimed to not only evaluate the economic benefits and impact of ESDS, but also to further develop impact evaluation methods that can provide the research council with robust and consistent estimates for all its investments in data service infrastructure.

The newly announced UK Data Service will draw on these strengths, as ESDS will be a key partner in the integrated service, providing users with a unified point of access to an increasingly extensive collection of research data including census data.

Full news story:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/newsdetail.asp?id=3291

ESRC link to full report:

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/impacts-and-findings/impact-assessment/economic-impact-evaluation.aspx