The EU unlocking a goldmine of open data

Data is a 21st century commodity – it’s the new oil. There is almost no limit to the economic and social impact it can generate, with new applications and tools being released every day. The European Commission’s Open DataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... Strategy aims to make the most of this huge asset in the single market.

In particular, the Commission is working on the following to push the Open Data Strategy forward. First, we’ve proposed new legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r... to open up public sector information so that businesses and citizens can access and use public data more easily across the EU without complicated or costly conditions. It takes a big culture change for governments to realise this. Administrations of all kinds need to change their attitude and understand that providing data for free or at low cost could actually benefit them. We’re not there yet, but I hope that EU Member States can look ahead at the huge opportunity that our proposal presents. After all, opening up public sector data could generate economic gains of around €40 billion a year, and that’s not something to be ignored, especially in this economic climate.

There are also some exciting developments for cultural open data. Over recent years, the EU-funded Europeana has been the access point for Europe’s libraries, museums, galleries and archives. It’s a treasure trove of cultural heritage; and a creative hub. Just last week (12 September), Europeana announced it was putting the metadata for over 20 million exhibits into the public domain: using the creative commons CC0 open licence. This is a step change in open data access, and an international first. Moving away from a closed and controlled approach to one based on large-scale, free re-use is a step in the right direction for open data in the EU. In the open environment that Europeana has now created, I hope we will see other similar applications that promote the open data agenda.

We have also found that open data can help scientists collaborate and progress, which in turn, benefits citizens, businesses and research funders. We’ve proposed to make available, under open access, all publications that stem from EU-funded research. We would also like to progressively open access to the data from scientific studies in the future. I’m glad that the EU is playing its part in introducing this new area of open data to the citizens of Europe.

Finally, we will of course continue to support research related to open data. Over the next two years we will invest €45 million on open access infrastructures for science, and on digital preservation. As the Vice President of the Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, I am excited about our progress and the huge potential that openness has for innovation. I am also proud to say that the EU is fully committed to open government and data.    

Image credit: Flags in front of the European Commission building in Brussels, by Sébastien Bertrand via Wikicommons