Research Data Scotland is a not-for-profit organisation supporting research institutions to help them access public sector data to conduct research which will have a public benefit.
Researchers will only be able to access public sector data if they are from recognised organisations and have the appropriate training credentials. Researchers will only be able to use de-identified data which be made available in controlled, secured environments where limits and conditions will placed on usage by the relevant data controllers and approval processes.
All results from research conducted through RDS must be capable of being published for the public benefit. Any commercial benefits will be shared back into RDS to improve public services. For private sector organisations, the same conditions apply for research institutions but a licensing model may be considered which will allow the benefits from the use of the data to be shared with other researchers.