Tableau, a visual analytics platform, and the European Investment Fund (EIF) have joined forces in a data driven initiative that visualises data-points about EIF investments that are supporting business innovation, entrepreneurship and employment across EU Member States and associated beneficiary countries.
Using Tableau, the EIF, based in Luxembourg, has developed a public facing interactive map, built on AWS, in order to bring data directly into the hands of the public, allowing them to easily see and understand where and how the EIF has been investing more than EUR136 billion into European small and medium-sized businesses over the past 25 years. Current data shows at least 1.2 million businesses as financial beneficiaries of the EIF’s debt financing and equity financial instruments.
“The interactive map sets a new standard for how an international organisation like the EIF can share core data to show the return on investment of our stakeholders’ financial investments. Our map uses real-time data to show how investment activities are delivering positive impact. Using Tableau to create and run this map, we can tell our story in a way that makes people understand the real-life value of where we intervene on the ground,” explains José Grincho, Director of Middle, Information and Back Office at the EIF.
Built alongside Tableau partner The Information Lab, the map allows the public to view up-to-date figures of the invested amounts, the number of beneficiary businesses, and the estimated number of supported jobs at the time of investment. The public can also use the map to drill down from country level, through local regions, to the actual geocoded addresses of the business.
The impetus for the EIF to launch a map with access to as much detail as possible came from one of its largest shareholders, the European Commission, in order to showcase the use and benefits of European public funding in critical areas such as entrepreneurship and link these to key drivers of economic growth. Using data analytics in this way has the potential to improve the understanding of public policy at a time when many citizens are challenging the relevance of public institutions to their day-to-day lives.
James Eiloart, SVP EMEA, Tableau adds: “Public institutions are looking for new ways to connect with their citizens. Giving access to public data in an easy-to-use, visual way allows people to explore questions and find the most relevant insights. Data visualisation and exploration is a powerful way for people to understand how public money is being spent to improve their communities. Our work with the EIF is a fantastic example of this and demonstrates best practice in how governmental organisations can open up their data for positive public scrutiny that builds transparency and brings tangible benefits.”
In the first year of its operation, the map has already recorded on average 1,000 users visits per month and around 13,000 user sessions in total.
