.svg)
As demand for environmental data grows and the ecosystem around it becomes more complex, data platforms must evolve to stay relevant. Through ecosystem mapping and consultation with market players, we identified where SEED, the state's environmental open data platform, provides the most value and developed a new partnership framework that positions SEED as foundational data infrastructure, rather than just another publishing portal.
SEED is a trusted source of environmental data in NSW, but a fragmented ecosystem of overlapping portals, siloed collection and limited usage visibility made it hard to know where to focus. Sandbox partnered with SEED to better understand its position in the broader market landscape and identify partnership opportunities that would enable SEED to amplify its impact on environmental decision making.
Sandbox conducted in-depth interviews across government, academia and industry to understand what different players in the environmental data ecosystem value and how SEED could better align with their needs. We mapped the environmental data lifecycle and identified where SEED and other players add value, where gaps exist and where duplication creates friction. This surfaced four distinct types of market players, each with different goals and collaboration opportunities. From this we co-designed a partnership framework that defined SEED's potential role with each type of market player.
.png)
The project delivered a suite of visual, decision-ready tools that provided SEED's leadership team with a clear basis for prioritising partnership opportunities against strategic goals and capacity.
Key outputs included:
• A system-level view of NSW's environmental open data landscape, identifying drivers, relationships and points of duplication
• Market player profiles with tailored collaboration opportunities across different stages of the data lifecycle
• Actionable partnership opportunities mapped to SEED's strategic priorities
