The Linux Foundation has announced the launch of the Community Data Licence Agreement (CDLA), which it claims makes it easier for organisations and individuals to share, analyse, and use data collaboratively.

“An open data license is essential for the frictionless sharing of the data that powers both critical technologies and societal benefits,” says Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux Foundation, of his organisation’s latest project. “The success of open source software provides a powerful example of what can be accomplished when people come together around a resource and advance it for the common good. The CDLA licences are a key step in that direction and will encourage the continued growth of applications and infrastructure.”

Inspired by the licences available for open-source and free software, the CDLA comes in two flavours. The CDLA Sharing licence encourages contribution of data back to the community, while the Permissive variant lacks the requirement for recipients and contributors to share back to the community.

“We see the CDLA as being in the forefront of encouraging a shift in how people view data,” claims Todd Moore, vice president for Open Technology at IBM. “Given the growing volume of available datasets, data by itself is no longer the primary source of value. Instead, the ecosystem around the development and mining of trends and insights derived from data holds far more value for society. The CDLA provides the right platform to enable this shift in view and we are excited to be an early adopter.”

Full information on the licence is available at the official website.