Invited Talk of Marta Nagy-Rothengass, Head of Unit Data Value Chain, Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology: at the European Data Forum 2014, 19 March 2014 in Athens, Greece: Public Sector Information (PSI) at European Commission (EC)

1. Public Sector Information (PSI) at the
European Commission
Márta Nagy-Rothengass
European Commission
DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology
European Data Forum 2014
Session 1: Open Data (across Europe)
Athens, Greece, 19 March 2014

2. OUTLINE
1. Why the "open data" matters?
2. Open data policy aspects
3. Open data infrastructure
4. Conclusion

3. Data has become a resource
 Types:
Publicly funded data (like statistics, environmental and
geographical data, meteorological data, business
information, legal information), institutional and private data
 Data offers new opportunities: Combination of
different types of data (e.g. geo, traffic and tourism;
business and open)
 Data activities generate externalities, positive (reuse)
and negative (privacy): capture the good and avoid the
bad
 Competitive advantage is to offer the right data to the
right people at the right time

4. Open (public) data: Why does it matter for Europe?
 1. Untapped business and economic opportunities:
data is the new gold; possible direct and indirect gains of
€140bln across the EU27; Dutch geo-sector in 2008:
15.000 jobs
 2. Better governance and citizen empowerment:
open data increases transparency, citizen participation and
administrative efficiency and accountability
 3. Addressing societal challenges: data can enhance
sustainability of health care systems; essential for tackling
environmental challenges
 4. Accelerating scientific progress: e-science essential
for meeting the challenges of the 21st century in scientific
discovery and learning.

5. Commission Communication on Open data
An engine for innovation, growth and transparent
governance
 Fostering of (Open) Data policy
 Adoption of the revised Directive on the re-use of
Public Sector Information (PSI)
 Adoption of the Commission decision on re-use of its
own information
 Implementation of PSI policy across Europe by ensuring
compliance and the development of soft law instruments
(guidelines on high value data, licensing and charging)

6. Revision of the PSI Directive
Directive 2013/37/EU was adopted on 23 June 2013
 Key points of the revision, to be transposed by July 2015
• All accessible material in principle reusable must be
made available;
• Charges in principle are lowered to the marginal costs of
dissemination
• Rules on re-use of cultural material (material held by
museums, libraries & archives that is free of third party
copyright) are now included
• Machine-readable and open formats are strongly
encouraged

7.  Guidelines on implementation of
the Directive (charging rules,
licensing, high value datasets)
• Public consultation September-
November 2013
• Public hearing, Luxembourg, 25.11.13
• Meeting of the PSI Group, 26.11.13
• Internal Commission validation
process, December 2013-March 2014
• Adoption and publication as European Commission
Communication: June 2014
Revision of the PSI Directive

8. G8 context
The G8 Open Data Charter
 "We have arrived at a
tipping point, heralding a
new era in which people can
use open data to generate
insights, ideas, and
services to create a better
world for all."
 "12) We agree to orient our
governments towards
open data by default. "
EU implementation plan

9. G8 Open Data Charter
5 principles, all fully in line with the EC policy on OD:
 Open Data by Default (“all government data be published
openly by default”)
 Quality and Quantity (released data should be timely,
comprehensive, accurate and clear)
 Usable by All (OD should be available free of charge; without
bureaucratic or administrative barriers, such as registration
requirements; in open formats wherever possible; as much
data as possible)
 Releasing Data for Improved Governance (share technical
expertise and experience, be transparent on data collection,
standards, and publishing processes)
 Releasing Data for Innovation

10. EU implementation
of the G8 Open Data Charter
6 commitments:
1. Publication of core datasets held at EU level (budget,
elections, statistics)
2. Publication of high value datasets held at EU level
3. Publishing data on the EU open data portal
4. Promoting the application of the principles of the G8
Open Data Charter in all 28 EU Member States
5. Supporting Activities, Outreach, Consultation and
Engagement
6. Sharing experiences of open data work

11. European Council 24/25 October 2013
 Enhancing the potential of 'Big Data and Open Data' and
'data-driven innovation';

12. 12
It spreads …
 Over 30 countries with
national data portals
 Numerous initiatives at
regional/local level
 International
Organizations already
on board (e.g.
http://open-
data.europa.eu/
http://data.worldbank.org
/ http://data.un.org/ )
Data portals all over the world..
RED ... local or regional governmental
authorities
GREEN ... local or regional private initiatives
YELLOW ... nationwide governmental authorities
BLUE ... nationwide private initiatives
PURPLE ... transnational catalogue
Publication of Open Government Data

13. 150+ Open data portals in Europe
+ European Commission
Open Data Portal (2012)
+ Pan-European Open Data
Portal (pilot in 2013)
+ European Digital Service
infrastructure for Open
Data (CEF, 2014-2020)

14. The EC Open Data Portal:
Re-use of Commission's own Data
More than 6500 datasets
from 40 data providers

15. Pan-European
Open Data portal
currently a pilot:
www.publicdata.eu*
More than 46,000
referenced datasets
from 14 countries
*LOD2 project

16. Towards a pan-European
infrastructure for (open) data
Rationale
• One single gateway to reusable information
with the aim of enabling combination of
information held by various open data portals at
various levels throughout the EU
• Services around open data
• Dedicated service infrastructure for language
resources in order facilitate multi-lingual access
to online services

17. EU wide Open Data Infrastructures
CEF:
Access to digital resources
of European Heritage
“Europeana”
Sustainable model
for financing the
EU public digital
library Europeana
2013:pilot
of a pan-European
Open Data Portal
2014-2020:
progressive
implementation
as one of the CEF
(Connecting Europe Facility)
Infrastructures
(Open Data)

18. CEF Public Open Data: 2014 actions
 initiate the deployment of a comprehensive Open Data core
platform
• Make data sets accessible
and downloadable through links
to data providers' resources;
• Advanced visualization
capabilities, tools for data
aggregation and linking,
browsing and visualization,
user interfaces and support
material
• Use agreed standards
for metadata and data

19. • Open data creates fantastic opportunities for new business
but also some threats (Information overabundance, privacy)
• The business champions of the future will be the most
successful companies in coping with data flood
• Technology solutions addressing the complexity of
information problems and interoperability issues are needed
• Policy implementation (PSI and G8) is required
• Towards a better use of publicly funded data in Europe
• The EC is committed to support to improve European
(open) data driven competitiveness
Conclusion

20. • More info and updates:
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/content-and-media/data

21. Thank you!
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