Data Foundation Launches Community-Led National Data Strategy to Define a Shared Vision for America’s Data Future

The Data Foundation will develop a discussion draft for public comment, shaped by input from federal, state, and private-sector leaders and experts.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, September 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Data Foundation is launching an effort — through a framework of radical collaboration — to build a National Data Strategy for the next decade as a shared vision of America’s data future. This vision will go beyond the 2019 Federal Data Strategy and, in recognition of a very different environment where AI has fundamentally altered the value and demands placed on public data.

This process begins in September with a convening of a diverse mix of former and current federal leaders, state officials, AI researchers, statisticians, evaluation experts, privacy scholars, technology companies, philanthropies, nonprofit organizations, and policy experts. Rather than producing a final report, the Data Foundation will develop a discussion draft that articulates a proposed shared vision of America’s data infrastructure. The discussion draft will be released publicly for comment and refined through broader stakeholder engagement.

“The 2019 strategy was an important first step, but it was built for a different moment,” said Nick Hart, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Data Foundation. “New state leadership, private and philanthropic investment, and public expectations around privacy and transparency have all reshaped what’s possible and what’s needed. It’s time to move beyond a federal strategy to a national one that reflects how data infrastructure actually gets built and used today.”

While some organizations have created plans, recommendations, and calls to action, a comprehensive strategy needs a participatory, collaborative approach. The National Data Strategy aims to define broad consensus on how the country should address complex considerations and tradeoffs such as:

– Transparency and privacy
– State, local, tribal, and territorial leadership alongside public-private partnerships
– AI-ready public data infrastructure and evaluation of administrative data

“Few organizations are positioned to lead this effort,” said Ron Vassallo, the vice chair of the board of directors for the Data Foundation. “The Data Foundation, alongside our membership community, helped shape the original Federal Data Strategy and spent the past decade serving as a trusted, nonpartisan convener at the intersection of data policy, evidence, statistics, technology, and governance.”

Details on the public comment and engagement process for the discussion draft will be announced in fall 2026.

Center for Data Policy
Data Foundation’s Center for Data Policy focuses on the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern data collection, management, and use, working to ensure interoperability, standardization, and appropriate data privacy across sectors.

J.B. Wogan
Data Foundation
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