Webinar - Harnessing smart data for good: Real-time insights into economic wellbeing
At Smart Data Foundry, our mission is simple yet ambitious: to unlock financial data for good. In our recent webinar, Harnessing Smart Data for Good: Real-Time Insights into Economic Wellbeing, we shared how near real-time financial data can help organisations better understand economic challenges and shape more effective policies and services.
If you missed the live session, the full recording is available on YouTube. We encourage you to watch and discover how data can support a fairer, more resilient economy.
Unlocking Economic Insights
Smart Data Foundry is a not-for-profit subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh. Since our founding in 2022, we’ve worked with strategic partners including NatWest, Sage, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to securely use private sector financial data for public good. Our focus is on reducing poverty, tackling inequality, and improving economic wellbeing across the UK.
We provide access to de-identified, aggregated data that offers a fresh perspective on the economy, and alongside administrative data can help policymakers, service providers, researchers, and charities make evidence-driven decisions.
Our Products in Action
During the webinar, we showcased two of our key tools:
Economic Nowcast
- The proportion of people living beyond their means: The percentage of people in Great Britain who are spending 120% more than they earn. This is calculated on a 13-week rolling average.
- Average weekly income: The percentage of people in Great Britain who are spending 120% more than they earn. This is calculated on a 13-week rolling average.
- Small business productivity trends: Measured in revenue in real terms generated per employee of small businesses. This is calculated quarterly.
These indicators help organisations monitor the financial health of the public and small businesses. We have plans to add geographic filters, making it even easier to explore trends by location or population group. The latest figures can be viewed here and exported directly from our website.
Economic Wellbeing Explorer
The Economic Wellbeing Explorer is a dynamic, map-based tool designed for deeper exploration of economic wellbeing data. It brings together multiple datasets to support smarter resource planning, policy development, and service design.
Key features include:
- A user-friendly map interface for exploring data at national, regional, and local levels
- Ability to see trends over time, including a yearly comparison
- Monthly updates providing near real-time trends
- The ability to correlate different indicators for richer insights
Some of the indicators we highlighted in the demo include:
- Overdraft dependency: 15% of accounts entered a negative account balance at least twice in the past month
- Living beyond means: 11% of accounts spent at least 20% more than their income in the past quarter
- Low emergency resilience: 33% of accounts had less than £100 left after essential spending at least twice in the past month
These indicators were developed in collaboration with local authorities, and we continue to improve them, including the introduction of upcoming metrics such as benefit reliance. We are also working to extend the reach of the Explorer to include England and Wales by the end of 2025.
One of the more powerful features available to paid subscribers of the Explorer is the ability to add their own contextual data. This allows organisations to incorporate local information or specific indicators alongside our core financial datasets, creating a richer, more tailored understanding of the economic wellbeing in their communities. By combining external data with our near real-time financial insights available to Explorer subscribers, they can uncover deeper patterns, better target interventions, and design services that truly reflect local needs.
Watch the Webinar
The full session offers valuable demonstrations and insights that can help your organisation harness data for good. View below and see how Smart Data Foundry’s tools can support evidence-based action.
Together, we can use smart data to help build a stronger, more equitable economy.
