Does London need a city-wide data institute?

The idea of a new central institute to better coordinate data across London’s 32 boroughs and the Greater London Authority has been raised by the city's chief digital officer, Theo Blackwell, during a digital tools conference held in City Hall.

“Thirty-two boroughs mean 32 small data teams when a lot of the boroughs are cash strapped,” he said. “There is also high demand for data analysts, and experienced ones at that. The economics of [the whole arrangement] pose a real challenge.”

As chief digital officer, Blackwell’s role–newly created two years ago–is partly to better coordinate data not only from the boroughs but also police, hospital and fire services, plus Transport for London (...