January 17, 2010 By Scott Brinker 4 Comments The 8th linked data business model

In response to my post on linked data business models, Leigh Dodds at Talis wrote a terrific piece with his thoughts on the business of linked data. Leigh presents a number of great ideas that I think really carry the conversation forward.

One of his points is that I overlooked an important model, what he calls the “sponsorship model.” Under this model, a government entity or a non-profit organization has a funded mandate to deliver certain data to the public or their targeted constituency. I’d humbly suggest calling it the subsidized model though, to avoid confusion, because sponsorship is often associated with advertising and branding — very different business models.