Innovations Emerging from Projects

Innovations arising from the BDV PPP include:

  • Specific project developments that have a marketable value, including Big Data products, processes, instruments, methods, systems and technologies, offering value to a wide variety of economic and industrial sectors
  • Services of high societal value developed by projects
  • Spin-offs arising from projects and start-ups incubated by the programme activities
  • Patents and solutions enabling advanced privacy- and security-respecting solutions for data access, processing and analysis
  • Contribution to Standards (individually as projects and coordinated activities at a programme level)
  • Innovations resulting from cooperation between projects or programme coordinated activities (e.g. advances in data sharing, innovative skill programmes, reuse of technical solutions across different sectors, etc.)
  • Transformation of sectors of high economic value (led by the PPP Lighthouse projects, but also triggered by project cooperation): new business models and scaling innovations (advances in TRLs (technology readiness levels), crossborder solutions and bringing technology closer to the market, accelerating adoption)

In its second year of operation, the BDV PPP’s 32 running projects reported 106 innovations of exploitable value as delivered in 2018: 63% have a medium impact and 37% are considered innovations of significant impact. Fifty per cent of the innovations delivered in 2018 are incremental innovations, 6% are architectural, 36% are disruptive and 1% are radical innovations.

Ninety-three per cent of the innovations delivered in 2018 have an economic impact, and 48% have a societal impact. Forty-one per cent are technologies (including platforms), 32% are services, 7% are products, 8% are methods, 8% are systems, 1% are software, 4% are components and/or modules and 11% are others, including frameworks/architectures, processes, tools and toolkits, spin-offs, datasets, ontologies, patents and knowledge.


Sixteen per cent of the innovations delivered in 2018 are fully cross-sectorial. Sevety-five per cent provide solutions to the transport, mobility and logistics sector (the one with the best coverage in the PPP by the end of 2018); 20% of the innovations related to public services and smart cities; 19% to industry and manufacturing; 14% to bio-economy; 13% to the Telco sector; 12% marketing activities; 8% relate to health and healthcare; 8% to the ICT market; 7% to geospatial market; 5% to commerce; and 3% to others (including fashion, retail, business services, energy, media, compliance, etc.).


In relation to the maturity levels and TRLs, 7% of the innovations delivered are TRL 3 (experimental proof of concept), 10% are TRL 4 (technology validated in lab), 36% are TRL 5 or TRL 6 (technology validated in relevant environment, industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies), 32% are TRL 7 (system prototype demonstration in operational environment), 8% are TRL 8 (system complete and qualified) and 1% are TRL 9 (actual system proven in

Figure1: BDV PPP innovations to market 2018

an operational environment—competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies—or in space).


Figure 1 provides a full overview of the innovations delivered by the BDV PPP during 2018, combining level of significance, type of innovation (incremental, disruptive, architectural or radical) and the TRLs. Although a large number of innovations are classified as incremental innovations of medium impact, it is remarkable to note the high percentage of significant innovations (and expected growth in the upcoming years), the high number of disruptive innovations and the high TRLs in some cases close to deployment. Although at a lower level, the BDV PPP is also delivering some architectural and radical innovations.

Sixty-three new economically viable services of high societal value were developed during 2018 as a result of the projects. Forty-seven per cent (over 30 projects) contributed to this KPI.

Projects reported 204 new systems and technologies developed during 2018. Many of them are already reported as part of the KPI “Significant Innovations to Market”. Systems and technologies developed are not limited to one sector, and, in fact, the majority of the new systems and technologies can be utilised in different sectors/markets, thus stimulating the use of Big Data technologies in many areas.

Finally, many solutions and innovations arising from the Big Data PPP have been promoted in the BDV PPP Marketplace20 developed by the BDVe CSA project to spread knowledge about the outcomes of the PPP.

Excerpt from: García Robles A. et al. (2021) Achievements and Impact of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership: The Story so Far. In: Curry E., Metzger A., Zillner S., Pazzaglia JC., García Robles A. (eds) The Elements of Big Data Value. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68176-0_4