The ODI and the Department for Business and Trade have announced the winner of this year’s Smart Data Challenge – a programme initialised by the Department for Business and Trade, delivered by Challenge Works, and supported by ODI, bigspark, and NayaOne.
A huge congratulations to Moverly, this year’s winner. Their work reflects the quality, discipline and user focus the challenge has become known for.
But for us, the significance of today goes beyond the winner.
It speaks to the kind of infrastructure the UK needs to build solutions that genuinely improve the lives of consumers.
A Model That Moves the Market Forward
The Smart Data Challenge Prize is one of the few programmes that brings together policy ambition, high-quality, multi-sector data assets, safe, controlled test environments, transparent evaluation and serious funding (£600,000).
That combination is rare. More importantly, it solves a real problem we see across enterprises and innovators: everyone wants to build with smart data, but most lack the conditions to test safely, validate effectively and understand what will scale.
This challenge changes that by providing:
- Synthetic datasets spanning housing, retail, utilities, banking, telecoms and more
- NayaOne’s secure environment, enabling repeatable experimentation
- Structured evaluation from ODI and Challenge Works
- A clear pathway to demonstrate feasibility and impact
When you combine representative data, a controlled environment and consistent evaluation, you create something the market has been missing: a place where smart data innovation can actually succeed.
Why Structured Testing Matters
For us, this is about more than providing the environment. It reflects a broader shift across the ecosystem. Enterprises, regulators and innovators are increasingly aligned around the need for:
- Safe, realistic synthetic data libraries
- Repeatable, secure testing environments
- Consistent and transparent technical validation frameworks
- A pathway from prototype to adoption
These are the foundations of responsible innovation. Without them, strong ideas fail long before reaching consumers.
The Smart Data Challenge Prize demonstrates what happens when those foundations are put in place and when public partners, delivery experts, and infrastructure providers work together.
A Critical Insight Raised by DBT: The Go-To-Market Gap
In today’s wrap-up, the Department for Business and Trade made an important point:
future programmes should build in go-to-market guidance, commercial readiness support and mentorship pathways.
We wholeheartedly agree.
Building a strong prototype is one part.
Helping teams understand how it becomes a deployed, consumer-facing product is where the real value is unlocked.
It is an area we believe deserves continued focus across the ecosystem.
Responsible testing environments create the evidence.
Go-to-market scaffolding ensures that evidence turns into solutions that help real people - whether they’re buying a home, managing their finances, or accessing better services.
Enabling Solutions That Deliver Real Consumer Impact
Smart data only works if it delivers meaningful improvements for the public.
This challenge showed what is possible when innovators have the right foundations: safer transactions, more transparency, reduced friction, and clearer, faster journeys.
The work presented this year - including Moverly’s winning solution - shows that the UK is not just talking about smart data; it is building the infrastructure needed to deploy it responsibly and at scale.
That’s where the impact will be felt most strongly:
in solutions that make life easier, clearer and fairer for consumers.
Want to Build or Validate Your Smart Data Use Case?
If you’re exploring how to build, test or validate smart data solutions - whether you’re an innovator, enterprise or policymaker - NayaOne provides the environments, data assets and vendor delivery infrastructure to help you move from concept to evidence safely and at speed.
