Data stewardship concerns the people or entity that ensures data is managed according to agreed practices and principles. Those responsible for data stewardship implement the data strategy and ensures data quality, compliance, privacy and security through data management and data sharing (where applicable).

The responsibility for data management could take a number of forms. For government and large organisations it could be a governing body or independent trust. Within an enterprise organisation data stewardship might be delivered through a role or team. Given that digitisation is permeating throughout the public and private sector at multiple scales, there will be an array of data stewardship models adopted by organisations and companies according to their size and stakeholder needs. 

Those responsible for data stewardship need to implement stakeholder and consensus driven processes that define the rules for every type of activity concerning data. This includes solutions to the growing need of big data, whereby such is collected by only certain organisations but is needed by various stakeholders in the ecosystem to achieve diverse technology innovation outcomes involving an array of actors. 

The Barcelona Municipal Data Office (MDO) is a data stewardship model established within a city government administration. It is a multi-department directorate responsible for the management, quality, governance and exploitation of data relating to Barcelona City Council and all its associated bodies (public and private) that provide services to the general public. [1] Examples involving public-private partnerships for data stewardship, management and sharing include the City Data Exchange, a pilot between the Municipality of Copenhagen, the Capital Region of Denmark and Hitachi. [2] In Toronto, Canada Sidewalk Labs has proposed an independent government-sanctioned entity to form a Data Trust as part of proposals for the public-private redevelopment of a post-industrial waterfront area utilising emergent technologies. [3]

Best practice:

[1]  Governance of municipal data: the Municipal Data Office

[2] City Data Exchange.

[3] Sidewalk Toronto. Digital Innovation.