Open Supply Hub was deliberately built as an open data platform, to ensure that any organization who needs to share or search supply chain data can do so in a free and accessible tool.
The Goal: Open up supply chain data for the benefit of all, by creating a tool that allows any organization with data about supply chain facilities or sites to upload it to the platform. This then means that when you search or download data in the tool, you can see all the organizations who have shared data about and are connected to a particular facility, enabling collaboration across organizations, regions and sectors.
What is open data?
According to the Open Knowledge Foundation: Open data is data that can be freely used, shared and built on by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose.
Three principles make open data powerful:
Availability and access — anyone can access and download the data
Re-use and redistribution — anyone can reuse, build on, and share the data
Universal participation — there are no restrictions on who can use it or for what purpose
Is that different from open source?
Open source refers to opening up the code written to build a platform. OS Hub is also open source: all the code written to develop, fix and grow OS Hub is available for anyone to view on our GitHub repository and licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 ShareAlike license.
Where does this open data in OS Hub come from?
There are three categories of data on OS Hub. Each data point on a production location profile displays a badge indicating its source.
- Crowdsourced data Data uploaded directly to OS Hub by supply chain stakeholders — including brands and retailers, civil society organizations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, service providers, production locations and factory groups. Contributors can upload data for free via manual CSV or Excel file, or through our paid API connection. Some data is uploaded by the OS Hub Research Team from publicly available sources. These entries are marked with [Public List] in the list name.
- Claimed data Owners or senior managers of production locations can confirm and enrich their profile through OS Hub's claims process. Claimed data points include number of workers, parent company, production type, minimum order quantities, lead times, and more. Claimed production location profiles are indicated by a green badge displayed on the profile page. Claimed profiles also include a dedicated Operational Details Submitted by Management section, which displays the additional data points provided by the facility's owner or senior management as part of the claims process.
- Spotlight data Additional social and environmental data shared by third-party partners through OS Hub Spotlight. Spotlight data appears in a dedicated Spotlight section on the production location profile, separate from the main facility information. Learn more about OS Hub Spotlight.