Chicago generates some of the richest city data in America, but the city collects almost none of the money that others make from it. The Chicago Data & Technology Alliance (Chicago DATA) takes ownership stakes in companies that make money from that data, licenses the data directly, and builds shared technology with other Midwest cities. After costs and reinvestment, the rest of the revenue goes to pensions.
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PART OF THE NEW BURNHAM PLAN
DESIGN
Chicago Data & Technology Alliance
When someone profits from Chicago's public data, Chicago should get a share.
Every permit, 311 call, bus and water main produces data that others build businesses on while the city gets the invoices. Every new tech deal will give Chicago co-ownership and a share of the profits.
The usual pattern goes like this. A vendor builds a system for the city, using the city's data. The city pays for it. The vendor keeps the code, sells it to other cities and rents it back to Chicago every year. Chicago owns its data the same way it owns its streets, and taxpayers shouldn't pay twice for the same thing.
So every new technology deal gives Chicago co-ownership of the data, the code and the software built from it. Existing deals get audited within 18 months and renegotiated where those terms are missing, and major contracts go back out to competitive bid. When a company builds a commercial product from licensed city data, it pays the city 15% to 25% of the revenue.
Chicago also invites Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City and other Midwest cities to build shared public tools together, instead of each city renting the same thing from the same vendor. The alliance is run by a city office set up by ordinance, Chicago DATA. What it earns covers its own operations first, then new investments, and the rest goes to Chicago's pension funds.
WHAT IT WON'T DO
It doesn't wall off public data. Data the city publishes openly today stays open to everyone.
It doesn't sell your personal information. Nothing is licensed until it passes a privacy review, and only anonymized data is licensed at all.
It doesn't shut out business. Companies that test products here or keep a Chicago headquarters get the best terms, and universities across the region get access to the data.
It doesn't vanish with the next administration. Changing it takes 34 of 50 aldermen, and a board with staggered four-year terms oversees it, with every appointment confirmed by the City Council.
How it connects
Nothing in this plan works alone. These are the questions people ask next, and the policies that answer them.
Who else is taking value out of Chicago's public assets? The Public Assets Protection Act stops the city from selling off what it owns for quick cash, and Chicago Human Economy sets terms for companies that use Chicago's streets, water and power.
Public Assets Protection Act (PAPA) →
Chicago Human Economy →
Who does the technical work? The Public Work Act rebuilds the city's own in-house expertise and puts outside consultants under the same disclosure rules as the city.
The Public Work Act →
Where does the money go? After the alliance covers its own operations and new investments, the rest goes to the city's pension funds, which the plan pays off on a fixed 20-year schedule.
Keeping Our Promises: Paying Off the Pension Debt →
FISCAL IMPACT
Revenue Neutral
RENOVATION STEP
Design
SHOW THE FULL POLICY DETAILS
01
Where it ranks
HOW WE DELIVER IT · RUN IT
#3 of 4
RUN IT
50 / 100
Enables
Scale
Long-term
NEW It supplies the data for the Mayor's Delivery Unit, the public dashboards and the Livability Map, the public map of every block, pipe and bridge. It also earns Chicago a share of the revenue when companies use the city's data. Sharing in that revenue and building an alliance with other cities are both untested at city scale, so its long-term impact rating is capped at 3.
See all the priorities
How I set them
02
How it works
A city office, set up by ordinance
Chicago DATA starts as a city office created by City Council ordinance. A fully independent authority, like the CTA, would need a state law. The city will seek that law at the same time, but the office doesn't wait for it.
Chicago keeps what it pays for
Every new data-sharing or technology agreement gives the city co-ownership of the data, the code and the intellectual property, meaning the rights to the software and anything built from it. Existing agreements are audited within 18 months and renegotiated where those terms are missing. Major technology contracts go back out to competitive bid, with no sole-source extensions.
Privacy before licensing
The city licenses anonymized datasets to researchers, other cities and companies. A privacy review is required first, and nothing is licensed unless it's anonymized. Data the city already publishes openly stays open.
A share of what's built on city data
Commercial products built from licensed city data pay the city 15% to 25% of their revenue, on top of licensing fees. When a company turns Chicago data into a business, the city takes an ownership stake (equity), whichever of the four kinds of partner below the company is.
Four kinds of partners
Companies testing a product in Chicago or in a partner city of the Midwest alliance get the best terms. Companies that keep a Chicago headquarters for 7 years come next. Midwest companies and cities building tools together get below-market licensing on what they build. Everyone else pays standard rates.
A Midwest alliance
Chicago invites Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City and other cities to build shared public tools together. The cities that build a tool own it together and share revenue when it's sold outside the alliance. Universities across the region, not only in Chicago, get access to the data.
Where the money goes
The ordinance sets the order in which the money is spent. Revenue pays first for running the office, up to a limit the City Council sets. A fixed share then goes to new investments. Everything above that goes to Chicago's pension funds.
Hard to undo
Changing or abolishing the office takes the votes of 34 of the 50 aldermen. The office has a 9-member board, and its members serve staggered four-year terms. Of the members, the mayor appoints 5, including the chair, and the City Council confirms every appointment.
03
What it costs
Legal work and setting up the board
$1.5–2.5M (Year 1 estimate)
Audit of existing data agreements and contracts
$1–2M (Year 1 estimate)
Licensing platform and privacy systems
$3–5M (Year 1 estimate)
Staff
$3–5M a year
Building the alliance and university partnerships
$0.5–1M (Year 1 estimate)
These are planning estimates. The plan doesn't promise any specific amount of revenue.
04
What it takes to make it happen
CITY COUNCIL
Pass the ordinance that creates Chicago DATA. The ordinance sets up the board, the rule that changing the office takes 34 votes, the order in which revenue is spent, and the limit on operating costs. Confirm board appointments.
MAYOR AND DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
Request a citywide total of what the city spends on technology, start the audit of existing agreements, send major contracts back out to bid, and reach out to other cities and universities.
OTHER CITIES
Each alliance city signs an agreement with Chicago. The Illinois Constitution allows cities to contract with cities in other states.
SPRINGFIELD
A state law is needed only if the office becomes a fully independent authority. The city office works without one.
VOTERS
No referendum is needed.
05
Timeline
DAY ONE
The city requests a citywide total of what it spends on technology. The audit of existing data agreements begins. Major contracts that haven't gone through competitive bidding recently get notice that they will be rebid.
YEAR 1
The City Council passes the ordinance. Every new agreement includes terms that make the city a co-owner. The target is agreements in principle with at least 3 cities.
WITHIN 18 MONTHS
Every existing data-sharing agreement has been audited, and renegotiated where the city's co-ownership terms are missing.
YEARS 3–4
The target is a group of 6 or more partner cities, with a first shared product in use in at least 3 of them.
06
Where it's worked
Chicago today
The city's Department of Technology and Innovation had an $82.1 million budget in 2025, with $76.4 million proposed for 2026. Its largest expense is software maintenance and licensing, ahead of salaries. It averaged a 43.6% vacancy rate from February through September 2025, the highest of any city department.
SOURCE: BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION, 2026 BUDGET SNAPSHOT (OCT. 21, 2025) ↗
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Barcelona
Barcelona set up a Municipal Data Office in 2016 to govern all the data the city owns or holds. From about 2017 it wrote data sovereignty clauses into public contracts so data produced under those contracts stays available to the city, and it moved its technology toward free software and open standards.
SOURCE: UCL INSTITUTE FOR INNOVATION AND PUBLIC PURPOSE, WORKING PAPER (2022) ↗
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Illinois
The state constitution lets local governments contract with each other, with the state, and with other states and their local governments to share services or combine powers.
SOURCE: ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE VII, SECTION 10 ↗
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Sources
Better Government Association, 2026 budget snapshot (Oct. 21, 2025)
UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, working paper (2022)
Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 10
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