This presentation will introduce the BYTE project which is examining the potential positive and negative effects of the deployment of big data as a policy platform in Europe. This EU-funded project “Big data roadmap and cross-disciplinarY community for addressing socieTal Externalities” started in March 2014. BYTE will conduct empirical research in seven sector-specific case studies to examine the potential positive and negative externalities of big data with organisations that are actually utilising big data. These case studies include: environmental data, cultural data, utilities/smart cities, health data, commercial data, energy data and transportation data. It will use this information to create a BYTE vision and roadmap for the responsible integration of European stakeholders into the emerging big data economy. The presentation will outline the stakeholder collaboration activities that will be used in the BYTE project, including the BYTE Big Data Community, and encourage audience members to become involved in the project: participating in the debates the project will host and the stakeholder collaboration mechanisms that will ultimately steer European policy in this area.