Access versus Ownership of Information and DESIDOC's Balancing Act

Under Open Data policy of the Government of India, the Indian research organisations playing a vital role in making unrestricted data sharable in the open domain. Organisations are facilitating the access to data by civil sectors for its potential reuse, repurposing and empowerment of the society. In this endeavour, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of the Ministry of Defence of India, is contributing immensely by making research data available for the economic and social value to the society. The paper is an attempt to discuss opportunities and challenges of the data revolution, from ownership to access and the role of DRDO's scientific community in making unrestricted data available for sharing, reuse and re-purposing by the civil sector; and, how data revolution can be exploited to improve own knowledge and benefit to society through data-driven research and innovation.