Open Data and Smart City Forum (DK0053)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?: Every day, the public sector creates large amounts of data about traffic, parking, pollution, culture and demographics. This data contains vast, untapped potential. Denmark is one of the countries in the world that systematically generates and stores the most data and statistics. Both public and private actors are engaged in data generation and collection. Making data sets available to businesses, citizens and other public bodies to a greater extent will create opportunities for increased growth and innovation in society. Open public data is relevant because it can be used, for example, as raw material in the development of applications and services for the benefit of citizens and businesses. It can help give politicians new and better knowledge about their local government and how it develops, and thus strengthen the foundation for decision-making. It can be a source of increased citizen participation and cocreation, since it gives civil society a new opportunity to get involved and help create a better city/municipality/region. Data-driven solutions make it possible to use new technology that improves and streamlines the core functions, that local government perform for citizens – i.e. ‘Smart City’ solutions.; What is the commitment?: The commitment involves implementation of various initiatives divided into several projects to support local governments’ work with open data and to increase use of open data: • Assistance to local governments • Support publication and standardised displaying of data • Increase transparency and opportunities for businesses and citizens to use data • Knowledge sharing of new, data-driven solutions As part of a Smart City initiative, the following activities will be carried out: • Intro events about Smart City, which in a practical and down-to-earth manner turns the spotlight on how to start working with Smart City in your local government, identifying the ‘small successes’ that are easy to address. Will be carried out in 2017-2018. • Development of a Smart City map of Denmark to create an overview of Smart City solutions in Denmark, particularly locally. Citizens and other actors will also be able to submit projects/solutions. • ‘Best practice’ guidelines about Smart City solutions that can be used by various local governments. Will be carried out in 2018. • Workshops about professional topics. Collaboration with schools and universities. There is particular interest in sharing or upgrading knowledge and bringing local knowledge institutions into play in the solutions. Will be carried out in 2017-2019. As part of an initiative to improve the use of municipal data, the following activities will be carried out: 2017 • Two open data introduction seminars in autumn held by Open Data DK. • Two wider-themed “data days” in autumn. These data days will be held as part of a collaboration project and also address the regional governments’ work for the local governments on Zealand in connection with the project, ‘Ready for smart growth’. • The possibility of releasing joint municipal data sets will be investigated. • Efforts will be undertaken to create a strong technical foundation for local governments in their work with open data. 2018- • Strategic inspiration for local-government managers through inspirational presentations by foreign contributors. • The project will identify overall data areas aimed at serving as guidelines for the local governments in their work with open data. • ‘Small successes’ and success-stories will be highlighted. • Efforts will be undertaken to create a strong technical foundation for the local governments in their work with open data. • A major event with local-government use cases with an urban space theme and a village/rural theme has been requested. • Focus will be put on what open data can do to ensure new/better urban space solutions and to improve citizens’ experience of the urban space. Both projects prioritise the inclusion of the entire country and all types of municipalities. The projects include free intro seminars that are open to all so citizens can be inspired as to how to use freely available data. The project offers technical assistance to local governments so that also small municipalities will receive support publishing data as open data. How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? The projects support local governments in obtaining a greater understanding of the value of open data through networks, analyses and competency building and collaborating on ‘smart solutions’. The assumption is that this will engender more open municipal data, which will increase civil society’s ability to use it in various services, but also provide knowledge and encourage citizen participation.; Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?: The project to improve the use of municipal data greatly supports transparency and openness in the public sector. Moreover, open data is a source of increased citizen participation and co-creation as it gives civil society a new opportunity to get involved, helping create a better city/municipality/region.

Commitment 4: Better use of open data and Smart City Forum

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"The commitment involves implementation of various initiatives divided into several

projects to support local governments' work with open data and to increase

use of open data:

· Assistance to local governments

· Support publication and standardised displaying of data

· Increase transparency and opportunities for businesses and citizens to use data

· Knowledge sharing of new, data-driven solutions"

Milestones:

4.1 Completion and implementation phase

Start Date: April–May 2017

End Date: 2020

Editorial note: The commitment text above has been shortened for the purposes of this report. For the full text of this commitment, see "The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019," Danish Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/, pp. 12–13.

Context and Objectives

The provision of datasets for enterprises, citizens, and other public bodies can create opportunities for increased growth and innovation in society. Open public data will be used as raw material for the development of applications and services. Smart City is a broad concept that covers the use of technology, data, and partnerships to improve urban infrastructure through data. Examples of Smart City issues include waste management, air pollution, and traffic initiatives.^{[Note : Laurids Hovgaard, "Kommunale City Projekter Sticker i Alle Retninger: Fra Normalisering af Sensordata til Nye Datamodeller," Version 2, 8 October 2018, https://www.version2.dk/artikel/kommunale-smart-city-projekter-stikker-alle-retninger-normalisering-sensordata-nye. ]}

The Smart City initiative covers a range of projects intended to support municipalities' work with open data; the presentation of, transparency regarding, and the ability to use data; and knowledge sharing. Activities include introductory events to explain to citizens how to use Smart City, the development of a Smart City map of Denmark, best practice guidelines, workshops about relevant themes, and collaboration with schools and universities.

Another project focusing on better use of municipal data is expected to include open data introduction seminars, "data days," and options for making common municipal datasets available. Through this initiative, the government hope to provide more open municipal data and encourage civil society to use this data, for increased participation.^{[Note : "The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019," Danish Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/, p. 12.]} The description of the commitment refers to a range of implementation activities to encourage civic participation.

This commitment aims to increase access to information by opening data, publishing data, and standardising data display. The initiative also supports the use of technology and innovation for transparency and accountability.

This commitment is well underway. It is referred to and discussed in the media. However, its milestones are not specific (e.g., "completion and implementation phase") and the vague description of the content (e.g., "support to municipalities") also complicates verifiability.

The IRM researcher considers the potential impact of this commitment to be minor. The initiative can potentially serve to strengthen municipalities' use of open data, and thereby benefit citizens. However, the commitment text could more strongly explain how citizens are expected to access and engage with the open data.

Next steps

· Since this commitment is already significantly underway, the IRM researcher suggests that this commitment not be carried forward to the next action plan.

· The IRM researcher does suggest, however, that stakeholders from this initiative participate in the next OGP multi-stakeholder forum to share lessons learned on open data and citizen engagement. This will be informative for several Danish action plan commitments that involve open data.

4. Better use of open data and Smart City forum

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“The commitment involves implementation of various initiatives divided into several

projects to support local governments’ work with open data and to increase

use of open data:

• Assistance to local governments
• Support publication and standardised displaying of data
• Increase transparency and opportunities for businesses and citizens to use data
• Knowledge sharing of new, data-driven solutions”

Milestones:

• Completion and implementation phase

Start Date: April–May 2017

End Date: 2020

Editorial note: The commitment text above has been shortened for the purposes of this report. For the full text of this commitment, see “The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019,” Danish Agency for Digitisation, pp. 12–13, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/.

Denmark’s Smart City initiative covers a range of projects intended to support municipalities’ work with open data. This includes improving data presentation and transparency, the public’s ability to use data, and knowledge sharing. Activities under this commitment included introductory events to explain to citizens how to use Smart City, the finalization of a Smart City map of Denmark, best practice guidelines, workshops about relevant themes, and collaboration with schools and universities. [13]

While this commitment’s planned activities were vague in the action plan, their implementation is tied to Denmark’s broader Digitization strategy running from 2016–2020. [14] Most projects and activities mentioned in the commitment’s narrative have been carried out, while others are ongoing in accordance with the strategy.

During implementation, Local Government Denmark (KL) brought together key stakeholders from several Danish municipalities in the Smart City Forum to exchange best practice and foster knowledge sharing. Since its establishment in 2017, the Smart City Forum has been well-received by local authorities [15] and appreciated as a platform with which enterprises, local authorities, and citizens can share ideas on the use of local data. However, during implementation, it became clear that Smart City solutions will need standardized data to become more valuable across locations and sectors. [16] Hence, in 2019, emphasis was put on finding common solutions to be implemented across all municipals in Denmark based on four Smart City themes: easy parking, ‘Smart Mobility,’ traffic in roundabouts and junctions, and street lighting. [17]

The commitment has directly contributed to improving access to and use of local data through ongoing events and knowledge-sharing activities, primarily with local authorities. Despite creating opportunities for citizens to become involved, the main results of the commitment relate to strengthened inter-municipal co-operation in the area of “smart cities.”

[13] “Denmark Design Report 2017–2019”, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Denmark_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[14] ”A Stronger and More Secure Digital Denmark – Digital Strategy 2016-2020”, Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/digital-strategy/. Smart city forum is the municipal and Initiative 5.2: “Smart City partnership”.

[15] ”Bjerregaard: Smart cities er ikke kun et anliggende for kommunalpolitikere men også for folketinget”, Altinget, 7 December 2018, available [in Danish] at https://www.altinget.dk/forsyning/artikel/borgmester-staten-skal-paa-banen-behov-for-faelles-standarder-for-smart-cities.

[16] ”Bjerregaard: Smart cities er ikke kun et anliggende for kommunalpolitikere men også for folketinget”, Altinget, 7 December 2018, available at: https://www.altinget.dk/forsyning/artikel/borgmester-staten-skal-paa-banen-behov-for-faelles-standarder-for-smart-cities.

[17] “End-of-term report on Denmark’s OGP Action Plan 2017–2019”, Danish Agency for Digitisation, forthcoming.