Europe: Open Data Strategy
The European Commission has launched an
which is expected to deliver a €40 billion boost
to the EU’s economy each year.
…
Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said:
“We are sending a strong signal to administrations today.”
“Your data is worth more if you give it away. “
“So start releasing it now: use this framework to join the
other smart leaders who are already gaining from
embracing open data.”
“Taxpayers have already paid for this information,
the least we can do is give it back to those who
want to use it in new ways that help people and
create jobs and growth.”
In this short video release:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlcFKPyiRuw
Vicepresident Kroes states:
“The European Commission will be releasing its own data for Free
So, let’s open up the rest of Europe public sector
let’s deliver a single market for database products and services.”
This article in The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/2011/dec/13/eu-open-government-data
further analyses the significance of the announcement:
“Firstly, the European Commission will lead the way
by pioneering open data policies and practises that
it would like to see adopted by EU member states.
“Eating your own dogfood”, as software developers
affectionately call it.
They will open up documents and datasets from
across dozens of institutions“
“Secondly the Commission will put up €100 million
in financial support for research into “data-handling
technologies”.
The European initiative include legislation proposals
for making data “Open by Default“:
“…An ‘open by default’ rule for all ‘public documents’
which will mean that they “can be re-used for any
purpose, commercial or non-commercial”.
Though this isn’t spelled out, ‘documents’ is probably
intended in a broad sense to cover datasets, as in the
current text of the Directive. The basic message is:
‘if you can make it public, it should be open for everyone
to reuse’.
The announcement included a call to immediate action
for embracing Open Data, and raising awareness of its
importance.