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Statistical data is considered high-value data, due to its broad benefits to society, the environment, and the economy. Statistical data provides us with information on demographic and economic indicators (for example, data on GDP, educational level or population age), essential information when making decisions and formulating policies and strategies.

Such is its importance for society as a whole that the UN Statistical Commission created in 2018 an Working Group on Open Data, focused on providing support for the application of open data principles to statistical information, so that its universal and free access is provided. This working group is made up of representatives from different countries, international organizations and associations, such as the World Bank, Open Data Watch, the International Statistical Institute or representatives of the UN itself through agencies such as FAO.

In early March, this group produced a report to guide national statistical offices on open data practices in the production of official statistics. This document is divided into two sections:

• A background document on the application of open data in national statistical offices

• A background document on local level statistics in the form of open data

Let's see the conclusions of each of them.

The application of open data in national statistical offices

The report offers guidelines in the following areas:

• Default open data: The document focuses on the legal aspects of default open data, emphasizing the need for open licensing standards. According to the “Open Data Inventory”, in the period 2018-2019 only 14 out of 180 analysed countries published all their data with an open license. There are many types of internationally recognized licenses. The most common are the Creative Commons and Open Data Commons, although many countries tend to customize them. The report recommends approving an international open license in its original form or preparing a custom license, but conforming to the guidelines formulated by Open Definition. In addition to open licenses, countries also need to have a legal framework with laws on access to information and accountability.
• User-centered designs: The report highlights the need to involve users in the development of platforms and the dissemination of data to ensure that their needs are met. Some of the mechanisms that can be used are conducting surveys, interviews or focus groups. It is also necessary to measure the use of data through website analysis in order to take decisions that increase its use. Given that all countries need to create user participation strategies, it would be advisable to encourage the exchange of templates and guidelines or the holding of joint workshops.
• National reporting platforms: Data platforms must be based on four principles: clarity, adequacy, sustainability and interoperability. For these principles to be fulfilled, it is necessary to promote coordination and cooperation within the national statistical system, and the national statistical office should take the lead.
• Correlation of the Generic Model of Statistical Institutional Processes with interoperability guidelines: To facilitate the different offices to share innovative approaches regarding the collection and dissemination of statistics, it is appropriate to have a framework that includes good practices and standardized terminology. The Generic Model of Statistical Institutional Processes describes the set of actions necessary to produce official statistics, guaranteeing constant improvement. These stages are: a) specify needs; b) design; c) build; d) collect; e) process; f) analyse; g) disseminate; and h) evaluate. In order to incorporate interoperability into the Model, the most relevant interoperability practices should be incorporated into the different design phases.
• Development of an open data culture: The adoption of open data principles in the daily life of statistical institutions can mean a change of mentality. Sometimes you have to "convince" about the need to open this type of information. For this reason, it is essential to carry out internal and external communication actions, analyse existing capacities and carry out training tasks accordingly, and establish responsibilities.

Local level statistics in the form of open data

In addition to having national statistical offices, it is advisable to launch local initiatives that can provide information on specific geographic spaces such as neighbourhoods, rural areas, or census and electoral districts. This information may show disparity between regions and help in the formulation of local policies. It is also useful for civil society, the private sector and NGOs to make better decisions.

In order for comparisons to be made, the report recommends that these data be produced and disseminated following the same guidelines across the country. In addition, it urges national offices to investigate which statistical content is of most interest to users and to provide a series of recommendations, ranging from disclosure mechanisms to the most useful visualization tools. The implementation could be carried out with a gradual approach, where interaction between the different actors involved is encouraged.

The report also refers to the background document presented at the fiftieth session of the Statistical Commission, which includes guidance on understanding open data practices in official statistics. A document worth reviewing when launching such an initiative.

In short, we are dealing with a type of data of great importance, which must be shared with society through an ecosystem of publishers and always respecting the balance between openness and privacy.

The COTEC Foundation has recently published a Guide for the opening and sharing of data in the business environment, with recommendations and good practices to boost data reuse in the private sector. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, to raise awareness of the opportunities of data opening and sharing within the companies, and on the other, to accompany organizations in this process.

The guide is organized around 5 steps to follow when launching a data sharing / opening initiative:

1. Experimentation and awareness, where the potential of company data is identified.
2. Definition of a strong strategy that includes the objectives and decisions to be taken at the organizational level among other aspects.
3. Technical preparation, where aspects related to data management and technological infrastructure are addressed.
4. Implementation of data life cycle, which is subdivided into the following phases: collect, prepare, share or publish and maintain.
5. Initiative monitoring, where the level of success is analysed and actions for continuous improvement are proposed.

The guide also analyses other relevant aspects to consider, such as relationship and financing models, the legal framework and the roles or skills necessary to launch such an initiative. The document ends with an glossary of terms and acronyms.

To illustrate the numerous benefits that data opening can bring to private companies, the guide includes numerous examples of companies that have launched initiatives to share their data with third parties or have found a new business niche based on data. These examples show the potential offered by these processes, both for companies that provide data and for reusers.

The Cotec Open Data Working Group was launched in September 2018 and has been coordinated by Cristina Oyón and Amaia Martínez from the Department of Strategic Initiatives of SPRI, the Basque Agency for Business Development. The Economic Development Agency of La Rioja (ADER), Alliance 4 Universities, Banco Santander, Bankia, BBVA, Clarke Modet, the Ministry of Employment, Business and Commerce of the Junta de Andalucía, Ecoemblajes España (Ecoembes), EDP Spain, Vodafone Foundation, F. Iniciativas, Indra, the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness (IVACE), Orange, Primafrío, Suez Advanced Solutions Spain, Tecnalia and Telefónica are part of this group.

Virtual assistants, purchase prediction algorithms or fraud detection systems. We all interact every day with Artificial Intelligence technologies.

Although there is still a lot of development ahead, the current Artificial Intelligence impact in our lives cannot be denied. When we talk about Artificial Intelligence (or AI) we don't mean humanoid-looking robots that think like us, but rather a succession of algorithms that help us extract value from large volumes of data in an agile and efficient way, facilitating automatic decision making. These algorithms need to be trained with quality data so that their behaviour adapts to our social context rules.

Currently, Artificial Intelligence has a high impact on the business value chain, and affects many of the decisions taken not only by companies but also by individuals. Therefore, it is essential that the data they use are not biased and respect human rights and democratic values.

The European Union and the governments of the different countries are promoting policies in this regard. To help them in this process, the OECD has developed a series of minimum principles that AI systems should comply with. These principles are a series of practical and flexible standards that can stand the test of time in a constantly evolving field. These standards are not legally binding, but they seek to influence international standards and function as the basis of the different laws.

The OECD principles on Artificial Intelligence are based on the recommendations developed by a working group composed of 50 expert AI members, including representatives of governments and business communities, as well as civil, academic and scientific society. These recommendations were adopted on May 22, 2019 by OECD member countries.

These recommendations identify five complementary values-based for the responsible stewardship of Artificial Intelligence:

1. AI should benefit people and the planet by driving inclusive growth, sustainable development and well-being.
2. AI systems should be designed in a way that respects the rule of law, human rights, democratic values and diversity, and they should include appropriate safeguards – for example, enabling human intervention where necessary – to ensure a fair and just society.
3. There should be transparency and responsible disclosure around AI systems to ensure that people understand AI-based outcomes and can challenge them.
4. AI systems must function in a robust, secure and safe way throughout their life cycles and potential risks should be continually assessed and managed.
5. Organisations and individuals developing, deploying or operating AI systems should be held accountable for their proper functioning in line with the above principles.

Consistent with these principles, the OECD also provides five recommendations to governments:

• Facilitate public and private investment in research & development to spur innovation in trustworthy AI.
• Foster accessible AI ecosystems with digital infrastructure and technologies and mechanisms to share data and knowledge.
• Ensure a policy environment that will open the way to deployment of trustworthy AI systems.
• Empower people with the skills for AI and support workers for a fair transition.
• Co-operate across borders and sectors to progress on responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI.

These recommendations are a first step towards the achievement of responsible Artificial Intelligence. Among its next steps, the OECD contemplates the development of the AI ​​Policy Observatory, which will be responsible for providing guidance on metrics, policies and good practices in order to help implement the principles indicated above, something fundamental if we want to move beyond the theoretical to practice scope.

Governments can take these recommendations as a basis and develop their own policies, which will facilitate the homogeneity of Artificial Intelligence systems and ensure that their behaviour respects the basic principles of coexistence.

On June 12, the European Data Portal (EDP) organizes a webinar to explain the main conclusions of its latest report, entitled Analytical Report 13: Open Data best practices in Europe's Top Performers. This report analyses the success factors shared by the leading countries of open data in Europe: Spain, Ireland and France.

These three countries have been chosen for their top positions in the EDP open data maturity ranking. They are prescribers in terms of open data due to their high performance and clear strategic focus.

The webinar will start at 13:30 CET. It consist of a general overview on the following aspects:

• Good open data practices in Ireland, Spain and France.
• Common factors that helped boost the development of open data in the 3 countries. These factors can be used as a guide for those countries that want to improve their open data strategy.
• Trends and opportunities, both at the European Union and country level. The analysis will be based on the four EDP evaluation dimensions: Policy, Portal, Quality and Impact.

The webinar will include representatives of the national open data portals teams from Ireland, Spain and France, who will share their experience devising and executing an open data strategy. The speakers will be joined by Cosmina Radu, Service Delivery Lead of the European Data Portal and co-author of the report.

The webinar is free but you need to register through this registration form.

More information on the European Data Portal website and on social networks (Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn).

The European Data Portal (EDP) has just published the Analytical Report 13: Open Data best practices in Europe's Top Performers, where it analyses the open data strategy of the leading countries in this area in Europe: Ireland, Spain and France. These are the 3 countries that obtained the highest score in the last EDP maturity Landscaping.

The purpose of this new report is to be used as a guide for those countries that are developing or want to improve their open data project. For this purpose, the report describes the common success factors that have allowed the three countries analysed to become trend-setter on open data.

The report is based on the 4 dimensions used by the EDP in its latest maturity landscaping: Policy, Portal, Quality and Impact. Dimensions where Spain obtained a great result, as the following graph shows.

Let´s see in detail the conclusions of each section.

Dimension 1: Policy

The key factors that Ireland, Spain and France share are:

1. A strategic vision around open data, grounded in a comprehensive policy framework. All three countries analysed have is a state-level policy that drives a common vision of open data. In the case of Spain, the report highlights the role of the Aporta Initiative as a common framework that drives the ecosystem of open data in the country. The document also highlights the creation of two specific plans aimed at promoting coordination among different agencies: the “Digital Transformation Plan for the General Administration and Public Agencies 2015-2020", which foresees actions for the publication of information for citizens and businesses and fostering of its re-use, and the "Digital Plan" of 2013, where the objective is to simplify the conditions for re-using public sector information. In addition, Spain is an example of overcoming barriers related to complex federal structures, thanks to a framework that favours the coordination of different government levels (national, regional and local) for the development and implementation of local open data initiatives.
2. An inclusive open data governance structure. Ireland, Spain and France have understood the need to launch an inclusive and participatory process, where the needs of the different actors are taken into account. Through different activities (such as working groups, events or seminars), publishers, re-users or society members in general can share their vision of the open data ecosystem. Among other actions, the report highlights the collaborative and interoperable platform launched by A Coruña, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and Zaragoza under the umbrella of the Ciudadesabiertas.es project.

Dimension 2: Portal

In this dimension, the report analyses the scope and mission of national open data portals. All three portals are not a mere repository for metadata records, but have become virtual spaces for knowledge development, exchange and interaction on open data. In particular, the three countries have in common:

1. Advanced features that foster access to data, and enable interaction between users. All portals include tools that facilitate interaction between publishers and re-users. For example, in France and Spain, users have the possibility of providing comments to each data set, and including new data or use cases in the corresponding sections. The report also highlights the usefulness of dashboards to obtain statistics on key performance indices and analyse data impact.
2. Access to data, tools and editorial content. It is not surprising that one of the key functions of a national open data portal is to enable access to all open data published across the country. But it should also provide materials and editorial content on relevant topics aimed at a broad audience, including publishers and re-users from all sectors, as well as the general public. In the case of Spain, the Spanish portal provides separate sections for open data reports, news, events, interviews, etc.

Dimension 3: Impact

The key aspects to take into account in this dimension are:

1. Strategic awareness around fostering, monitoring and measuring open data reuse. All three portals provide good examples of use cases to demonstrate the reuse of open data on each of the sectoral dimensions assessed by the European Data Portal: political, social and environmental as well as studies that focus on assessing the economic impact of open data. The report also highlights how the implementation of seminars, events or contests, such as Aporta Meetings or Aporta Challenges, can help boost the reuse of open data in the country.
2. Focus on developing data ecosystems in thematical domains. Ireland, Spain or France boost the publication and reuse of open data in specific sectors. Last year, Spain focused on the economic and innovative value of data, a topic that started 2018 Aporta Meeting and the Infomediary Sector Report of ASEDIE. France also focused on the business sector, as well as transport and geographic data, while Ireland has opted to create a series of events, called "Open Data Impact Series", focused every time in a different sector.

Dimension 4: Quality

The differentiating elements in this dimension are:

1. Ensuring discoverability and regular updating of open data stemming from local, regional and national sources. 
2. Monitoring the quality of and fostering better open data publication in the country

This is provided by a mix of automated harvesting and manual editing of metadata records. Additionally, backend mechanisms (such as validators) as well as documentation (such as guidelines or support centres that provide help to publishers) were set up,

The implementation of all these actions enabled Ireland, Spain and France to secure top positions in the European Data Portal assessment, but also, and more importantly, to foster a sustainable transformation of open data ecosystem in the country.

These key elements can be used to develop a checklist to guide next steps of national policy makers and open data portal managers. However, as any best practice, each country needs to assess the transferability and applicability to their individual context and adopt a tailored approach that ensures the response to their specific needs.