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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published the main findings of the 2025 edition of the Open, Useful and Re-usable Data Index (OURdata) and the Digital Government Index (DGI), two indices that evaluate the good work of governments in fields related to digital transformation.

Both studies are born from a central idea: "digital transformation is no longer optional for governments: it is an absolute necessity". It enables better services, smarter decision-making and collaboration across borders, but for this to work, a bold and balanced vision is needed, supported by a strong and reliable foundation. Thanks to the analysis offered by the two indices published by the OECD, it is possible to guide policies, prioritize investments and measure the progress of digital transformation in the public sector.

Specifically, the indices assess:

• OURdata Index: national efforts to design and implement useful and reusable open data policies.
• Digital Government Index (DGI): Governments' progress in building the foundations for a coherent and people-centred digital transformation.

Both analyses are based on data collected during the first half of 2025, covering initiatives and policies implemented between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024. Its results will also feed into the OECD Digital Government Outlook 2026, which will include more in-depth analysis, key trends and country notes.

Keys to the OURdata Index 2025

The OURdata Index 2025 shows important progress in the opening and reuse of public data in OECD countries. In this index, Spain is in the top 5, consolidating its position among the countries with the best open data policies.

The OECD average rises from 0.48 to 0.53 out of a total score of 1, with almost 60% of countries exceeding the 0.50 threshold. France leads the ranking, followed by South Korea, Poland, Estonia and the aforementioned Spain, as can be seen in the following graph.

Figure 1. Result by country of the Open, Useful and Re-usable Data Index (OURdata). Source: 2025 Open, Useful and Re-usable Data Index (OURdata), OECD.

To arrive at these data, the report analyzes three pillars, as in 2023:

• Pillar 1: Data availability. It measures the extent to which governments have adopted and implemented formal requirements for publishing open data. It also assesses the involvement of relevant actors to identify the demand for data and the availability of high-value datasets such as open data. It should be noted that, although the report talks about high value datasets, it is not the same concept that the EU handles. In the case of the OECD, other high-impact categories are also taken into account, such as health, education, crime and justice or public finances, among others.
• Pillar 2: Data accessibility. It assesses the existence of requirements to offer open data in reusable formats. In addition, it focuses on the degree to which high-value government datasets are published in a timely manner, in open formats, with standardized and detailed metadata, and through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). It also analyzes the participation of relevant actors (stakeholders) in the central open data portal and in initiatives to improve its quality.
• Pillar 3: Government support for data reuse. It measures the extent to which governments play a proactive role in promoting the reuse of open data both inside and outside the public sector. Specifically, it analyzes whether there are alliances and organizes events that increase awareness of open data and promote its reuse; whether public officials are involved in the publication of open data and in data analysis and reuse activities; and whether impact assessments of open data are carried out and examples of reuse are collected.

The results show that, as in previous editions, OECD countries perform better in Data Availability (Pillar 1) and Data Accessibility (Pillar 2) than in Government Support for Data Reuse. However, Spain is an exception: it ranks third (0.91) in government support when it comes to promoting the creation of public value from open data and in measuring its real impact. In the rest of the pillars, 1 and 2, it is in 14th position, also ahead of the average of OECD countries.

Claves del Digital Government Index

The 2025 edition of the DGI assesses the digital maturity of governments. To do this, it analyzes whether they have the necessary foundations to leverage data and technology in a comprehensive transformation of the public sector focused on people.

As with the OURData index, the DGI score is based on the same methodology used in the 2023 edition, which allows a longitudinal evaluation to be carried out and progress between that year and 2025 to be compared. In this period, the OECD average in the DGI increased by 0.08 points, from 0.61 (out of 1) in 2023 to 0.70 in 2025, representing a total increase of 14%. Almost all governments exceeded the 0.50 threshold, and 17 of them were above the OECD average, including Spain.

The ranking is headed by South Korea, Australia, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Norway, with Spain in twelfth position, as shown in the following graph.

Figure 2. Result by country of the Digital Government Index. Source: 2025 Digital Government Index (DGI), OECD.

The DGI measures the maturity of digital government along six dimensions:

• Dimension 1: Digital by design.  It assesses how digital government policies enable the public sector to use digital tools and data consistently to transform services.
• Dimension 2: Data-driven.  It discusses advances in governance and the enablers for data access, sharing, and reuse in the public sector.
• Dimension 3: Government as a platform. It measures the deployment of common components such as guides, tools, data, digital identity, and software to drive consistent transformation of processes and services.
• Dimension 4: Open by default. It assesses openness beyond open data, including the use of technologies and data to communicate and engage with different actors.
• Dimension 5: User-centered. It measures the ability of governments to place people's needs at the centre of the design and delivery of policies and services.
• Dimension 6: Proactivity. It analyzes the ability to anticipate the needs of users and service providers to proactively offer public services.

The DGI assessment focuses on both the strategic and operational levels. Therefore, for each dimension, it examines four cross-cutting facets of the policy cycle: strategic approach (strategies and general frameworks), policy levers (resources and tools), implementation (concrete practices), and monitoring (monitoring and evaluation).

While countries have made progress compared to 2023, the 2025 results show that there is still room to increase the pace and depth of digital government policies. As in 2023, OECD countries excel in the Digital by Design, Data-Driven Public Sector, Government as a Platform and User-Centric dimensions, with widespread improvements in their scores. These advances are explained by the strengthening of governance and the use of data, the development of digital infrastructures -such as digital identity systems and service platforms-, the consolidation of digital talent in public administrations and the adoption of service standards.

In contrast, the Proactivity and Open dimensions by default continue to show lower performance, as was already the case in 2023. This is due to weaker results in the use and governance of artificial intelligence in the public sector, in service design and delivery practices, and in open data. Even so, improvements are observed in areas such as the availability of governance instruments for a reliable use of AI and the expansion of tools to test and monitor whether services are adapted to the needs of users.

In this case, Spain does follow the general trend, standing out especially in Digital by design where it enters the top 10 with a ninth position, although with one exception: it also obtains a good score in Proactivity, with a 12th place. In the rest of the indicators, it remains fairly stable, between positions 13 and 19.

Conclusion

Governments around the world face a common challenge: rigid structures, slow processes, and rules that sometimes make it difficult to respond with agility to today's challenges. As a result, digital modernization has become a strategic necessity.

Embracing digital technologies, connecting data, and working with agile methodologies allows governments to be faster, more efficient, and proactive while remaining active in accountability and facilitates collaboration between institutions and countries. Studies conducted by the OECD allow countries to determine their areas for improvement, facilitating informed decision-making regarding digital infrastructure, data or the use of AI.

To find out more about the details of Spain's position, we will have to wait for the country notes to be published in the OECD Digital Government Outlook 2026, but for now, we can take note of our strengths (government support for the reuse of data or the development of digital government policies) and the challenges to be faced (continuing to promote the accessibility and availability of data).

The construction of the ecosystem for the secondary use of e-health data in the European Health Data Space (EHDS) poses a significant scenario of opportunities for Spanish research, innovation and entrepreneurship. To this end, the European Union is promoting a multitude of strategic projects in which hospitals, health research foundations, universities, research centres and Spanish companies participate. The list of projects is extensive and aims to satisfy at least two objectives: to promote the generation of infrastructures capable of generating quality datasets and to promote conditions for their reuse.

The role of Spain. Strengths in the deployment of the European Health Area

Spain offers significantly favourable conditions not only to participate but also to contribute significantly to the tasks of creating the EHDS

• First, our public health system is characterized by a high level of integration and structuring. Unlike systems based on reimbursement mechanisms, in which there may be an atomisation in the field of service provision, in our system we have a clear frame of reference in primary care, medical specialities and hospital services.
• On the other hand, the experience deployed by our health environments from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and, particularly, the lessons learned from the seventeenth additional provision on health data processing of Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on the Protection of Personal Data and guarantee of digital rights (LOPDGDD) they constitute a valuable experience.
• The opening of the National Health Data Space promoted by the Government of Spain and promoted by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function, the Ministry of Health and the Autonomous Communities allows the deployment of an essential infrastructure for the EHDS.

The National Health Data space was presented on January 29. The event highlighted how this project represents a paradigm shift that revolutionizes the management of health data, promoting a federated, secure and ethical model that preserves the sovereignty and privacy of information while facilitating its use for research, innovation and public policies. Its operation is based on a federated catalog of metadata and a rigorous process of access and analysis in secure environments, which seeks to promote open science and scientific and technological advances, benefiting patients, researchers, managers and industry.

Lessons learned from European Projects

The path taken  by Regulation (EU) 2025/327 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2025 on the European Health Data Space, amending Directive 2011/24/EU and Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 (EEDSR), poses significant challenges that are addressed in research projects funded by European and national funds. The lessons learned in some of them can be extraordinarily useful for the research and entrepreneurship community in our country. We cannot forget that we start from significant strengths.

1.-Compliance by design

The existence of a new regulation requires a rigorous analysis of the state of the art in our organizations, not only to implement its deployment but also to ensure the preconditions of legal reliability of the datasets and the research that is proposed.

2.-Accountability: proactive responsibility and documentary strength

In our country we come from a long tradition of accountability. The EEDSR will impose on the data requester a set of relevant documentary requirements, such as, for example, having provided safeguards to prevent any misuse of electronic health data. This issue cannot be neglected from the point of view of data holders, who will also have to meet certain requirements. For example, proving that data is legitimate and reusable is an ethical and legally documentable issue; and the simplified procedure for accessing electronic health data through a trusted health data holder requires the latter to document the security of its data space or capabilities to evaluate requests for access to health data.

One of the main obstacles we face in this intermediate period of implementation of the EHDS lies precisely in the organizational culture for the generation of verifiable evidence. As standardization and the set of common rules of the EEDS scale, it will be necessary to deepen the dynamics of proactive responsibility understood as demonstrated responsibility.

3. Secure processing environments

In our country, health environments by their very definition must be safe environments. The deployment of the National Security Scheme (ENS) and the GDPR have allowed the entire health system, public or private, to adopt maturity models that are perfectly consistent with the conditions of the secure processing environments defined by the EEDSR.

Challenges of the Spanish system

Along with the inherent strengths of our system, it is necessary to consider those aspects that present themselves as challenges.

1. Anonymisation and pseudonymisation

In the national context, the aforementioned seventeenth additional provision of Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on the Protection of Personal Data and guarantee of digital rights, defines specific conditions for pseudonymisation. These consist of the functional separation between the teams that pseudonymize and those that reuse data, and the definition of a secure environment that prevents any attempt at re-identification. In addition, there are legal guarantees in terms of individual commitments not to re-identify, deployment of the impact assessment tool related to data protection and supervision by ethics committees. The challenge of anonymization is more demanding, since it implies the impossibility of linking health data with those of the original patient under any conditions.

2. Reeskilling of teams

The European Health Data Space (EHDS) will pose an unprecedented training challenge that will cut across all sectors involved in the health data ecosystem. Research ethics committees should familiarise themselves not only with the permissible secondary uses of health data, but also with the integration of the Artificial Intelligence Regulation and with the ethical principles of the ALTAI (Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence) framework. This need  for reeskilling will also extend to health systems and health administration, where Health Data Access Bodies will require highly qualified personnel in these new ethical and regulatory frameworks, as well as reliable data holders who will safeguard sensitive information. Development staff and IT teams will also need to acquire new skills in critical technical areas, such as cataloguing, validation, and curation of data, as well as in interoperability standards that enable effective communication between systems. Perhaps the most sensitive training challenge will fall on new entrants, who will be able to take advantage of opportunities to access datasets for innovative secondary uses. This especially concerns  technology startups in the health sector. To face a very demanding regulatory framework (GDPR, Regalmento de AI, EEDSR), the resources and capabilities for legal compliance in Spanish SMEs is notably limited. For this reason, it will be necessary to build a solid culture of data protection and ethical development of reliable artificial intelligence systems from the beginning.

3. Data cataloguing: the challenge of quality and standardization

In the context of the European Health Data Space, deepen the standardization of data through the most functional methodologies – such as OMOP CDM for observational clinical data, HL7 FHIR for dynamic information exchange, DICOM for medical imaging, or reference terminologies such as SNOMED CT, LOINC and RxNorm— is presented as a key strategic element for the creation and re-use of high-quality datasets. However, the adoption of these standards is not enough on its own: the processes of validation, semantic annotation and data enrichment require highly qualified human resources capable of ensuring the coherence, completeness and accuracy of the information, making this training a real precondition for effective participation in the European health data ecosystem. Alignment with the standardized cataloguing of datasets following the HealthDCAT-AP (Health Data Catalog Application Profile) standard, which allows the descriptive metadata of health data resources to be described in a homogeneous way, is presented as one of the immediate challenges, along with the implementation of the work that has been deployed in relation to the data utility quality label, a quality label that assesses the real usefulness of data for secondary uses and is becoming a seal of trust for users and researchers.

If previously in this article the very high capacities of the Spanish health system to generate health data in a systematic way and in significant volumes were highlighted, these aspects of cataloguing, standardization and quality certification will occupy an absolutely central place in designing optimal conditions of European competitiveness in their reuse, transforming the abundance of data into a real strategic advantage that allows Spain to position itself as a relevant player in the research and innovation landscape with electronic health data.

The experience of the EUCAIM project (Cancer Image EU)

The European Health Data Space Regulation aims to enable the secondary use of electronic health data across Europe through harmonised rules in a federated ecosystem. In the cancer arena, fragmented access to high-quality datasets slows down research, limits reproducibility and undermines Europe's ability to develop and validate reliable AI tools for oncology.

EUCAIM demonstrates the viability of an ecosystem for the secondary use of cancer through a federated model that allows cross-border access under harmonized rules guaranteeing adequate control of resources at the local level. And this is deployed through a set of enabling components:

1) A Secure Processing Environment (SPE) federated at European level

EUCAIM is creating a federated PES to enforce data access conditions, control processing, and support secure cross-border analysis under EEDS restrictions. This PES is fully in line with the requirements and measures laid down in Article 73 EEDSR for safe environments.

2) Overcoming the "anonymisation barrier"

EUCAIM promotes a layered anonymization strategy that combines dataholder-autonomous local anonymization processes with platform controls to enable datasets to remain useful for AI research and development. The importance of this approach lies in the fact that it aims to reconcile the protection of privacy with the practical need to have sets with large volumes of data characterized by their diversity.

3) Data cataloguing and standardization

EUCAIM aligns cataloguing with the HealthDCAT-AP principles whose main objective is to apply the FAIR principles, that is, to ensure that data is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.

4) Reduction of legal costs

EUCAIM has deployed its own compliance framework aimed at the General Data Protection Regulation and the Artificial Intelligence Regulation. To do this, a robust compliance framework is in place at the platform level that is deployed across complex data ecosystems.  This is based on data protection impact assessments (included in the GDPR) with a particular focus on fundamental rights. It also incorporates training and professional retraining of users as a functional requirement, so that compliance capability becomes an essential feature.

5) Support for data users

EUCAIM offers significant advantages to data users, including researchers and AI developers, by establishing a transparent and well-governed environment for data access. The adoption of transparent governance criteria, clearly defined obligations and their technical application by the platform, provide data users with the guarantee that their access is adequate and lawful, fully auditable and remains stable over time. The platform's design ensures that users can leverage powerful data for advanced analytics, including federated processing in a secure environment. Through mandatory training and implementation of standardized procedures, teams benefit from less uncertainty and are better equipped to align with compliance requirements set forth by the EEDSR, GDPR, and AI governance frameworks.

6) Guarantee of patients' rights

EUCAIM's approach is based on data protection by design and by default that unites organisational safeguards with robust technical controls. This framework has been purpose-built to minimise the risk of data misuse, while supporting safe and effective cross-border cancer research and innovation. The result is a system in which the protection of privacy is not an obstacle but a fundamental element that allows the responsible use of data for the benefit of society and science. The model reinforces accountability for the secondary use of health data by combining strong governance oversight, a comprehensive record of actions, and strict and enforceable obligations for all participating entities. All actions taken with patient data are recorded and reviewed, ensuring that all uses are fully auditable. This traceability ensures that the processing of data is kept within the limits of the permitted use and that any deviations can be identified and addressed quickly.

Multi-level governance: the key to sustainable success

The most relevant lesson learned at EUCAIM concerns the imperative need for articulated, coherent and operational multilevel governance. In a broad sense, it is essential to provide effective governance tools and frameworks on three fundamental dimensions:

• Firstly, on the processes for generating datasets and their sharing conditions, establishing clear criteria on what data is generated, how it is standardised, who holds rights over it and under what licences and restrictions it can be shared with third parties.
• Second, on data access request processes, defining transparent and efficient procedures so that researchers, innovators, and policymakers can identify, request, and obtain access to the data needed for their projects, minimizing administrative burdens without compromising ethical and legal guarantees.
• Thirdly, on the processes of validating the correctness of the datasets and adherence to the system, as well as the procedures for authorising access to data, ensuring that only data of certified quality feed the infrastructure and that only authorised users with legitimate purposes access sensitive information.

This procedural governance cannot function without strategic and operational decisions regarding the definition of human resources roles and functions. To do this, it is necessary to have the necessary professional profiles such as data managers, experts in research ethics, cybersecurity specialists, data curators and quality managers. Secondly, it will be essential  to define the secure processing environments where analyses are carried out on sensitive data, ensuring that these spaces comply with the highest technical standards of security, traceability, auditing and privacy preservation, and that they are designed to operate under the principle of zero trust) adapted to the health context. Only through this multi-level governance architecture, which integrates technical, organizational, ethical and legal dimensions at all levels of decision-making – from the design of national policies to the day-to-day operational management of platforms – will it be possible to build health data infrastructures that are truly sustainable, reliable and capable of generating long-term social, scientific and economic value.  positioning the Spanish healthcare system as a strategic player in the European healthcare innovation ecosystem.

Content prepared by Ricard Martínez Martínez, Director of the Chair of Privacy and Digital Transformation, Department of Constitutional Law, University of Valencia. The contents and views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

The Open Data Maturity Report  is an annual evaluation that since 2015 has analysed the development and evolution of open data initiatives in the European Union. Coordinated by the European Data Portal (data.europa.eu) and carried out in collaboration with the European Commission, this report assesses 36 participating countries: the 27 EU Member States, 3 European Free Trade Association countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and 6 candidate countries.

The report assesses four key dimensions:

1. Policy (strategies and regulatory frameworks)
2. Portal (functionalities and usability)
3. Quality (metadata and data standards)
4. Impact (reuse and benefits generated)

In the 2025 edition, Spain stood out with a score of 100% in the impact block compared to the European average of 82.1%. In general terms, it occupies the fifth position among the countries of the European Union with a total score of 95.6%, forming part of the group of countries that prescribe trends.

A differential aspect of this edition of the report is the incorporation of a descriptive and contextual approach that complements the traditional regulatory model, creating clusters of countries to allow fairer comparisons. These clusters group countries with similar economic, social, political, and digital characteristics, and are based on profiles that explain how open data policies are implemented, not just what results are obtained. The aim is to invite countries to look at their peers , learn from comparable experiences and promote more effective peer-to-peer learning than based solely on general rankings.

In addition to quantifying it, the report includes use cases and good practices carried out by countries to open and reuse public sector data. In this post, we highlight some of them that can serve as inspiration to continue improving our open data ecosystem.

Croatia's inclusive and coordinated governance

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the 2025 report is how some countries have managed to establish strong governance structures that ensure coordination between different levels of administration and multi-stakeholder participation.

Croatia stands out for having established in 2025 the Coordination for the Implementation of the Open Data Policy, a multisectoral body that monitors regulatory compliance, improves data accessibility, and supports authorities. This model ensures broad participation and ensures that national and local initiatives are aligned. The national portal functions as a  central hub, complemented by local portals such as the one for the city of Zagreb. In addition, knowledge exchanges are encouraged through coordination meetings, regular updates and collaborations with universities, such as the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Zagreb.

France's complete data governance structure

This country leads the ranking of the Open Data Maturity Report thanks, among others, to its comprehensive governance model that integrates open data roles at all administrative levels. At the national level, the General Data Administrator coordinates public data policy and oversees a network of chief data officers in each ministry. Etalab, the national open data and digital innovation unit, manages this network and provides technical support.

At the ministerial level, each data controller manages the data policy (openness, quality and reuse), supported by Etalab. Some ministries also appoint specific open data officers and data stewards who handle technical and organizational aspects of the publication. At the local level, each regional representative (préfet) designates a referent for data, algorithms and source codes. The Digital Inter-Ministerial Directorate also coordinates a network of API managers to enable dynamic access to data. They also ensure compliance with DCAT-AP in their metadata, as we do in Spain.

You can check here how DCAT-AP works and what it is for

Effective implementation: from strategy to action in Italy

Italian public administrations are obliged to adopt data publication plans, following national guidelines, which prioritise high-value datasets, dynamic data and user-requested information. The implementation is supported by a robust monitoring system. The Agency for Digital Italy (AgID) tracks progress through its Digital Transformation Dashboard, which reports the growth of datasets in dati.gov.it.

Policies are updated regularly: the latest three-year plan (2024-2026) was adopted in December 2024. To assist data holders and officials, AgID provides guidance, conducts webinars, and launched the AgID Academy to strengthen digital competencies.

Culture of reuse in Poland and Ukraine

A crucial aspect of encouraging open data is to provide practical resources to guide public organizations throughout the process. Poland stands out for its open data manual, the second edition of which was published by the Ministry of Digital Affairs.

This updated handbook introduces new categories of data, explains how regulations shape open data policies,  and introduces the Poland Data Portal.

The handbook functions as a checklist for offices, guiding them through their responsibilities to open data and foster a culture of reuse and include tools such as an  openness checklist for compliance.

In this regard, Ukraine has also adopted an approach towards reuse and the generation of resources that incentivise this reuse of data. The Ministry of Digital Transformation has developed a comprehensive set of resources and tools including detailed technical documentation and templates to help prepare and publish datasets aligned with national standards, covering metadata structuring, licensing, and compliance with the DCAT-AP standard.

The national portal includes functionalities for tracking the publication and reuse of datasets. Suppliers receive feedback on the quality and completeness of their metadata, helping them identify areas for improvement. In addition, regular training sessions and workshops are organized to develop the skills of publishers, promoting a shared understanding of open data principles and technical requirements.

Albania: comprehensive redesign of the portal

This country exemplifies the maturity improvements that can be achieved through a comprehensive update of the national open data portal. The large-scale revamp of the portal improved usability, transparency, and user engagement.

The updated portal now features a dataset rating system (1-5 stars), a dedicated news section on open data topics , and multiple notification options, including  RSS and Atom feeds, and email. Users can track the progress of their data requests, which are actively monitored and responses summarized in publicly available reports.

To better understand and respond to user needs, the portal team tracks search keywords, analyzes traffic, and conducts user surveys and workshops.

Lithuania: official monitoring methodology

One of the key practices highlighted in the report is the adoption of formal frameworks and structured methodologies that provide a systematic way to assess the impact of open data. Lithuania excels with a comprehensive approach because it defines how institutions should report on open data activities, ensuring consistency, accountability, and compliance across the public sector.

In addition, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation made calculations to estimate the economic impact of open data. This analysis provides quantifiable evidence of the contribution of open data to innovation, productivity and job creation. The results show that open data in Lithuania creates a market value of approximately €566 billion (around 1.2% of GDP) and supports close to 8,000 value-added jobs.

Germany: systematic funding for collaboration

Germany's mFund initiative provides structured financial support for mobility-related data projects, fostering partnerships beyond government.

An example is the miki (mobil im Kiez) project, which develops navigation and orientation solutions for people with limited mobility through the active engagement of civil society. The team created a national prototype with visualizations for cities such as Cologne, Kassel, Munich, Potsdam and Saarbrücken, showing building barriers and road surfaces. These visualizations will be integrated into Wheelmap.org, helping individuals with mobility disabilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Open Data Maturity Report 2025 demonstrates that the most open data mature European countries share common characteristics: inclusive and well-structured governance, effective implementation supported by planning and monitoring, practical support to data publishers, continuous technical innovation in portals and, crucially, systematic impact measurement.

The good practices highlighted here are transferable and adaptable. We invite Spanish public administrations to explore these experiences, adapt them to their local contexts and share their own innovations, thus contributing to an increasingly robust and impact-oriented European open data ecosystem.

To speak of the public domain is to speak of free access to knowledge, shared culture and open innovation. The concept has become a key piece in understanding how information circulates and how the common heritage of humanity is built.

In this post we will explore what the public domain means and show you examples of repositories where you can discover and enjoy works that are already part of everyone.

What is the public domain?

Surely at some point in your life you have seen the image of Mickey Mouse  Handling the helm on a steamboat. A characteristic image of the Disney company that you can now use freely in your own works. This is because this first version of Mickey (Steamboat Willie, 1928) entered the public domain in January 2024 -be careful, only the version of that date is "free", subsequent adaptations do continue to be protected, as we will explain later-.

When we talk about the public domain, we refer to the body of knowledge, i nformation, works and creations (books, music, films, photos, software, etc.) that are not protected by copyright. Because of this , anyone can reproduce, copy, adapt and distribute them without having to ask permission or pay licenses. However,  the moral rights of the author must always be respected, which are inalienable and do not expire. These rights include always respecting the authorship and integrity of the work*.

The public domain, therefore, shapes the cultural space where works become  the common heritage of society, which entails multiple benefits:

• Free access to culture and knowledge: any citizen can read, watch, listen to or download these works without paying for licenses or subscriptions. This favors education, research and universal access to culture.
• Preservation of memory and heritage: the public domain ensures that an important part of our history, science and art remains accessible to present and future generations, without being limited by legal restrictions.
• Encourages creativity and innovation: artists, developers, companies, etc. can reuse and mix works from the public domain to create new products (such as adaptations, new editions, video games, comics, etc.) without fear of infringing rights.
• Technological boost: archives, museums and libraries can freely digitise and disseminate their holdings in the public domain, creating opportunities for digital projects and the development of new tools. For example, these works can be used to train artificial intelligence models and natural language processing tools.

What works and elements belong to the public domain, according to Spanish law?

In the public domain we find both content whose copyright has expired and content that has never been protected. Let's see what Spanish legislation says about it:

Works whose copyright protection has expired.

To know if a work belongs to the public domain, we must look at the date of the death of its author. In this sense, in Spain, there is a turning point: 1987. From that year on, and according to the intellectual property law, artistic works enter the public domain 70 years after the death of their author. However, perpetrators who died before that year are subject to the 1879 Law, where the term was generally 80 years – with exceptions.

Only "original literary, artistic or scientific" creations that involve a sufficient level of creativity are protected, regardless of their medium (paper, digital, audiovisual, etc.). This includes books, musical compositions, theatrical, audiovisual or pictorial works and sculptures to graphics, maps and designs related to topography, geography and science or computer programs, among others.

It should be noted that  translations and adaptations, revisions, updates and annotations; compendiums, summaries and extracts; musical arrangements, collections of other people's works, such as anthologies or any transformations of a literary, artistic or scientific work, are also subject to intellectual property. Therefore, a recent adaptation of Don Quixote will have its own protection.

Works that are not eligible for copyright protection.

As we saw, not everything that is produced can be covered by copyright, some examples are:

• Official documents: laws, decrees, judgments and other official texts are not subject to copyright. They are considered too relevant to public life to be restricted, and are therefore in the public domain from the moment of publication.
• Works voluntarily transferred: The rights holders themselves can decide to release their works before the legal term expires. For this there are tools such as the license Creative Commons CC0 , which makes it possible to renounce protection and make the work directly available to everyone.
• Facts and Information: Copyright does not cover facts or data. Information and events are common heritage and can be used freely by anyone.

Europeana and its defence of the public domain

Europeana is Europe's great digital library, a project promoted by the European Union that brings together millions of cultural resources from archives, museums and libraries throughout the territory. Its mission is  to facilitate free and open access to European cultural heritage, and in that sense the public domain is at the heart of it. Europeana advocates that works that have lost their copyright protection should remain unrestricted, even when digitized, because they are part of the common heritage of humanity.

As a result of its commitment, it has recently updated its Public Domain Charter, which includes a series of essential principles and guidelines for a robust and vibrant public domain in the digital environment. Among other issues, it mentions how technological advances and regulatory changes have expanded the possibilities of access to cultural heritage, but have also generated risks for the availability and reuse of materials in the public domain. Therefore, it proposes eight measures to protect and strengthen the public domain:

1. Advocate against extending the terms or scope of copyright, which limits citizens' access to shared culture.
2. Oppose attempts to undue control over free materials, avoiding licenses, fees, or contractual restrictions that reconstitute rights.
3. Ensure that digital reproductions do not generate new layers of protection, including photos or 3D models, unless they are original creations.
4. Avoid contracts that restrict reuse: Financing digitalisation should not translate into legal barriers.
5. Clearly and accurately label works in the public domain, providing data such as author and date to facilitate identification.
6. Balancing access with other legitimate interests, respecting laws, cultural values and the protection of vulnerable groups.
7. Safeguard the availability of heritage, in the face of threats such as conflicts, climate change or the fragility of digital platforms, promoting sustainable preservation.
8. To offer high-quality, reusable reproductions and metadata, in open, machine-readable formats, to enhance their creative and educational use.

Other platforms to access works in the public domain

In addition to Europeana, in Spain we have an ecosystem of projects that make cultural heritage in the public domain available to everyone:

• The National Library of Spain (BNE) plays a key role: every year it publishes the list of Spanish authors who enter the public domain and offers access to their digitized works through BNE Digital, a portal that allows you to consult manuscripts, books, engravings and other historical materials. Thus, we can find works by authors of the stature of Antonio Machado or Federico García Lorca. In addition, the BNE publishes the dataset with information on authors in the public domain in the open air.
• The Virtual Library of Bibliographic Heritage (BVPB), promoted by the Ministry of Culture, brings together thousands of digitized ancient works, ensuring that fundamental texts and materials of our literary and scientific history can be preserved and reused without restrictions. It includes digital facsimile reproductions of manuscripts, printed books, historical photographs, cartographic materials, sheet music, maps, etc.
• Hispana acts as a large national aggregator by connecting digital collections from Spanish archives, libraries, and museums, offering unified access to materials that are part of the public domain. To do this, it collects and makes accessible the metadata of digital objects, allowing these objects to be viewed through links that lead to the pages of the owner institutions.

Together, all these initiatives reinforce the idea that the public domain is not an abstract concept, but a living and accessible resource that expands every year and that allows our culture to continue circulating, inspiring and generating new forms of knowledge.

Thanks to Europeana, BNE Digital, the BVPB, Hispana and many other projects of this type, today we have the possibility of accessing an immense cultural heritage that connects us with our past and propels us towards the future. Each work that enters the public domain expands opportunities for learning, innovation and collective enjoyment, reminding us that culture, when shared, multiplies.

*In accordance with the Intellectual Property Law, the integrity of the work refers to preventing any distortion, modification, alteration or attack against it that damages its legitimate interests or damages its reputation.

In the last six months, the open data ecosystem in Spain has experienced intense activity marked by regulatory and strategic advances, the implementation of new platforms and functionalities in data portals, or the launch of innovative solutions based on public information.

In this article, we review some of those advances, so you can stay up to date. We also invite you to review the article on the news of the first half of 2025 so that you can have an overview of what has happened this year in the national data ecosystem.

Cross-cutting strategic, regulatory and policy developments

Data quality, interoperability and governance have been placed at the heart of both the national and European agenda, with initiatives seeking to foster a robust framework for harnessing the value of data as a strategic asset.

One of the main developments has been the launch of a new digital package by the European Commission in order to consolidate a robust, secure and competitive European data ecosystem. This package includes a digital bus to simplify the application of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation. In addition, it is complemented by the new Data Union Strategy,  which is structured around three pillars:

• Expand access to quality data to drive artificial intelligence and innovation.
• Simplify the existing regulatory framework to reduce barriers and bureaucracy.
• Protect European digital sovereignty from external dependencies.

Its implementation will take place gradually over the next few months. It will be then that we will be able to appreciate its effects on our country and the rest of the EU territories.

Activity in Spain has also been - and will be - marked by the V Open Government Plan 2025-2029, approved last October. This plan has more than 200 initiatives and contributions from both civil society and administrations, many of them related to the opening and reuse of data. Spain's commitment to open data has also been evident in its adherence to the International Open Data Charter, a global initiative that promotes the openness and reuse of public data as tools to improve transparency, citizen participation, innovation and accountability.

Along with the promotion of data openness, work has also been done on the development of data sharing spaces. In this regard, the UNE 0087 standard was presented, which is in addition to UNE specifications on data and defines for the first time in Spain the key principles and requirements for creating and operating in data spaces, improving their interoperability and governance.

More innovative data-driven solutions

Spanish bodies continue to harness the potential of data as a driver of solutions and policies that optimise the provision of services to citizens. Some examples are:

• The Ministry of Health and citizen science initiative, Mosquito Alert, are using artificial intelligence and automated image analysis to improve real-time detection and tracking of tiger mosquitoes and invasive species.
• The Valenciaport Foundation, together with other European organisations, has launched a free tool that allows the benefits of installing wind and photovoltaic energy systems in ports to be assessed.
• The Cabildo de la Palma opted for smart agriculture with the new Smart Agro website: farmers receive personalised irrigation recommendations according to climate and location. The Cabildo has also launched a viewer to monitor mobility on the island.
• The City Council of Segovia has implemented a digital twin that centralizes high-value applications and geographic data, allowing the city to be visualized and analyzed in an interactive three-dimensional environment. It improves municipal management and promotes transparency and citizen participation.
• Vila-real City Council has launched a digital application that integrates public transport, car parks and tourist spots in real time. The project seeks to optimize urban mobility and promote sustainability through smart technology.
• Sant Boi City Council has launched an interactive map made with open data that centralises information on urban transport, parking and sustainable options on a single platform, in order to improve urban mobility.
• The DataActive International Research Network has been inaugurated, an initiative funded by the Higher Sports Council that seeks to promote the design of active urban environments through the use of open data.

Not only public bodies reuse open data, universities are also working on projects linked to digital innovation based on public information:

• Students from the Universitat de València have designed projects that use AI and open data to prevent natural disasters.
• Researchers from the University of Castilla-La Mancha have shown that it is feasible to reuse air quality prediction models in different areas of Madrid using transfer learning.

In addition to solutions, open data can also be used to shape other types of products, including sculptures. This is the case of "The skeleton of climate change", a figure presented by the National Museum of Natural Sciences, based on data on changes in global temperature from 1880 to 2024.

New portals and functionalities to extract value from data

The solutions and innovations mentioned above are possible thanks to the existence of multiple platforms for opening or sharing data that do not stop incorporating new data sets and functionalities to extract value from them. Some of the developments we have seen in this regard in recent months are:

• The National Observatory of Technology and Society (ONTSI) has launched a new website. One of its new features is Ontsi Data, a tool for preparing reports with indicators from both its portal and third parties.
• The General Council of Notaries has launched a Housing Statistical Portal, an open tool with reliable and up-to-date data on the real estate market in Spain.
• The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) has inaugurated on its website an open data space with microdata on the composition of food and beverages marketed in Spain.
• The Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) launched a renewed website, adapted to any device and with a more powerful search engine to facilitate access to its studies and data.
• The National Geographic Institute (IGN) has presented a new website for SIOSE, the Information System on Land Occupation in Spain, with a more modern, intuitive and dynamic design. In addition, it has made available to the public a new version of the Geographic Reference Information of Transport Networks (IGR-RT), segmented by provinces and modes of transport, and available in Shapefile and GeoPackage.
• The AKIS Advisors Platform, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has launched a new open data API that allows registered users to download and reuse content related to the agri-food sector in Spain.
• The Government of Catalonia launched a new corporate website that centralises key aspects of European funds, public procurement, transparency and open data in a single point. It has also launched a website where it collects information on the AI systems it uses.
• PortCastelló has published its 2024 Proceedings in open data format. All the management, traffic, infrastructures and economic data of the port are now accessible and reusable by any citizen.
• Researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the Institute of Photonic Sciences have created an open library with data on 140 biomolecules. A pioneering resource that promotes open science and the use of open data in biomedicine.
• CitriData, a federated space for data, models and services in the Andalusian citrus value chain, was also presented. Its goal is to transform the sector through the intelligent and collaborative use of data.

Other organizations are immersed in the development of their novelties. For example, we will soon see the new Open Data Portal of Aguas de Alicante, which will allow public access to key information on water management, promoting the development of solutions based on Big Data and AI.

These months have also seen strategic advances linked to improving the quality and use of data, such as the Data Government Model of the Generalitat Valenciana or the Roadmap for the Provincial Strategy of artificial intelligence of the Provincial Council of Castellón.

Datos.gob.es also introduced a new platform aimed at optimizing both publishing and data access. If you want to know this and other news of the Aporta Initiative in 2025, we invite you to read this post.

Encouraging the use of data through events, resources and citizen actions

The second half of 2025 was the time chosen by a large number of public bodies to launch tenders aimed at promoting the reuse of the data they publish. This was the case of the Junta de Castilla y León, the Madrid City Council, the Valencia City Council and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. Our country has also participated in international events such as the NASA Space Apps Challenge.

Among the events where the power of open data has been disseminated, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit, the Iberian Conference on Spatial Data Infrastructures (JIIDE), the International Congress on Transparency and Open Government or the 17th International Conference on the Reuse of Public Sector Information of ASEDIE stand out.  although there were many more.

Work has also been done on reports that highlight the impact of data on specific sectors, such as the DATAGRI Chair 2025 Report of the University of Cordoba, focused on the agri-food sector. Other published documents seek to help improve data management, such as "Fundamentals of Data Governance in the context of data spaces", led by DAMA Spain, in collaboration with Gaia-X Spain.

Citizen participation is also critical to the success of data-driven innovation. In this sense, we have seen both activities aimed at promoting the publication of data and improving those already published or their reuse:

• The Barcelona Open Data Initiative requested citizen help to draw up a ranking of digital solutions based on open data to promote healthy ageing. They also organized a participatory activity to improve the iCuida app, aimed at domestic and care workers. This app allows you to search for public toilets, climate shelters and other points of interest for the day-to-day life of caregivers.
• The Spanish Space Agency launched a survey to find out the needs and uses of Earth Observation images and data within the framework of strategic projects such as the Atlantic Constellation.

In conclusion, the activities carried out in the second half of 2025 highlight the consolidation of the open data ecosystem in Spain as a driver of innovation, transparency and citizen participation. Regulatory and strategic advances, together with the creation of new platforms and solutions based on data, show a firm commitment on the part of institutions and society to take advantage of public information as a key resource for sustainable development, the improvement of services and the generation of knowledge.

As always, this article is just a small sample of the activities carried out. We invite you to share other activities that you know about through the comments.

Spain once again stands out in the European open data landscape. The Open Data Maturity 2025 report  places our country among the leaders in the opening and reuse of public sector information, consolidating an upward trajectory in digital innovation.

The report, produced annually by the European data portal, data.europa.eu, assesses the degree of maturity of open data in Europe. To do this, it analyzes several indicators, grouped into four dimensions: policy, portal, quality and impact. This year's edition has involved 36 countries, including the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), three European Free Trade Association countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and six candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine). 

This year, Spain is in fifth position among the countries of the European Union and sixth out of the total number of countries analysed, tied with Italy. Specifically, a total score of 95.6% was obtained, well above the average of the countries analysed (81.1%). With this data, Spain improves its score compared to 2024, when it obtained 94.8%.

Spain, among the European leaders

With this position, Spain is once again among the countries  that prescribe open data (trendsetters), i.e. those that set trends and serve as an example of good practices to other States. Spain shares a group with France, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Ireland, the aforementioned Italy, Slovakia, Cyprus, Portugal, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

The countries in this group have advanced open data policies, aligned with the technical and political progress of the European Union, including the publication of high-value datasets. In addition, there is strong coordination of open data initiatives at all levels of government. Its national portals offer comprehensive features and quality metadata, with few limitations on publication or use. This means that published data can be more easily reused for multiple purposes, helping to generate a positive impact in different areas.

Figure 1. Member countries of the different clusters.

The keys to Spain's progress

According to the report, Spain strengthened its leadership in open data through strategic policy development, technical modernization, and reuse-driven innovation. In particular, improvements in the political sphere are what have boosted Spain's growth:

Figure 2. Spain's score in the different dimensions together with growth over the previous year.

As shown in the image, the political dimension has reached a score of 99.2% compared to 96% last year, standing out from the European average of 93.1%. The reason for this growth is the progress in the regulatory framework. In this regard, the report highlights the configuration of the V Open Government Plan, developed through a co-creation process in which all stakeholders participated. This plan has introduced new initiatives related to the governance and reuse of open data. Another noteworthy issue is that Spain promoted the publication of high-value datasets, in line with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138.

The rest of the dimensions remain stable, all of them with scores above the European average: in the portal dimension, 95.5% has been obtained compared to 85.45% in Europe, while the quality dimension has been valued with 87.8% compared to 83.4% in the rest of the countries analysed. The Impact  block continues to be our great asset, with 100% compared to 82.1% in Europe. In this dimension, we continue to position ourselves as great leaders, thanks to a clear definition of reuse, the systematic measurement of data use and the existence of examples of impact in the governmental, social, environmental and economic spheres.

Although there have not been major movements in the score of these dimensions, the report does highlight milestones in Spain in all areas. For example, the datos.gob.es platform underwent a major redesign, including  adjustments to the DCAT-AP-ES metadata profile, in order to improve quality and interoperability. In this regard, a specific implementation guide was published  and a learning and development community was consolidated  through GitHub. In addition, the portal's search engine and monitoring tools were improved, including tracking external reuse through GitHub references and rich analytics through interactive dashboards.

The involvement of the infomediary sector has been key in strengthening Spain's leadership in open data. The report highlights the importance of activities such as the National Open Data Meeting, with challenges that are worked on jointly by a multidisciplinary team with representatives of public, private and academic institutions, edition after edition.   In addition, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces identified 80 essential data sets on which local governments should focus when advancing in the opening of information, promoting coherence and reuse at the municipal level. 

The following image shows the specific score for each of the subdimensions analyzed:

Figure 3. Spain's score in the different dimensions and subcategories.

You can see the details of the report for Spain on the website of the European portal.

Next steps and common challenges 

The report concludes with a series of specific recommendations for each group of countries. For the group of trendsetters, in which Spain is located, the recommendations are not so much focused on reaching maturity – already achieved – but on deepening and expanding their role as European benchmarks. Some of the recommendations are:

• Consolidate thematic ecosystems (supplier and reuser communities) and prioritize high-value data in a systematic way.
• Align local action with the national strategy, enabling "data-driven" policies.
• Cooperate with data.europa.eu and other countries to implement and adapt an impact assessment framework with domain-by-domain metrics.
• Develop user profiles and allow their contributions to the national portal.
• Improve data and metadata quality and localization through validation tools, artificial intelligence, and user-centric flows.     
• Apply domain-specific standards to harmonize datasets and maximize interoperability, quality, and reusability.
• Offer advanced and certified training in regulations and data literacy.
• Collaborate internationally on reusable solutions, such as shared or open source software.

Spain is already working on many of these points to continue improving its open data offer. The aim is for more and more reusers to be able to easily take advantage of the potential of public information to generate services and solutions that generate a positive impact on society as a whole.

The position achieved by Spain in this European ranking is the result of the work of all public initiatives, companies, user communities and reusers linked to open data, which promote an ecosystem that does not stop growing. Thank you for the effort!

Last October, Spain hosted the OGP 2025 Global Summit, an international benchmark event on open government. More than 2,000 representatives of governments, civil society organisations and public policy experts from around the world met in Vitoria-Gasteiz to discuss the importance of maintaining open, participatory and transparent governments as pillars of society.

The location chosen for this meeting was no coincidence: Spain has been building an open government model for more than a decade  that has positioned it as an international benchmark. In this article we are going to review some of the projects that have been launched in our country to transform its public administration and bring it closer to citizens.

The strategic framework: action plans and international commitments

Open government is a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability, and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth.

Spain's commitment to open government has a consolidated track record. Since Spain joined the Open Government Partnership in 2011, the country has developed five consecutive action plans that have been broadening and deepening government openness initiatives. Each plan has been an advance over the previous one, incorporating new commitments and responding to the emerging challenges of the digital society.

The V Open Government Plan (2024-2028) represents the evolution of this strategy. Its development process incorporated a co-creation methodology that involved multiple actors from civil society, public administrations at all levels and experts in the field. This participatory approach made it easier for the plan to respond to real needs and to have the support of all the sectors involved.

Justice 2030: the biggest transformation of the judicial system in decades

Under the slogan "The greatest transformation of Justice in decades", the Justice 2030 programme  is proposed as a roadmap to modernise the Spanish judicial system. Its objective is to build a more accessible, efficient, sustainable and people-centred justice system, through a co-governance model  that involves public administrations, legal operators and citizens.

The plan is structured around three strategic axes:

1. Accessibility and people-centred justice

This axis seeks to ensure that justice reaches all citizens, reducing territorial, social and digital gaps. Among the main measures are:

• Face-to-face and digital access and attention: promotion of more accessible judicial headquarters, both physically and technologically, with services adapted to vulnerable groups.
• Basic legal education: legal literacy initiatives for the general population, promoting understanding of the judicial system.
• Inclusive justice: mediation and restorative justice programmes, with special attention to victims and groups in vulnerable situations.
• New social realities: adaptation of the judicial system to contemporary challenges (digital violence, environmental crimes, digital rights, etc.).

2. Efficiency of the public justice service

The programme argues that technological and organisational transformation is key to a more agile and efficient justice. This second axis incorporates advances aimed at modern management and digitalization:

• Justice offices in the municipalities: creation of access points to justice in small towns, bringing judicial services closer to the territory.
• Procedural and organisational reform: updating the Criminal Procedure Law and the procedural framework to improve coordination between courts.
• Electronic judicial file: consolidation of the digital file and interoperable tools between institutions.
• Artificial intelligence and judicial data: responsible use of advanced technologies to improve file management and workload prediction.

3. Sustainable and territorially cohesive justice

The third axis seeks to ensure that judicial modernisation contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and territorial cohesion.

The main lines are:

• Environmental and climate justice: promotion of legal mechanisms that favor environmental protection and the fight against climate change.
• Territorial cohesion: coordination with autonomous communities to guarantee equal access to justice throughout the country.
• Institutional collaboration: strengthening cooperation between public authorities, local entities and civil society.

The Transparency Portal: the heart of the right to know

If Justice 2030 represents the transformation of access to justice, the Transparency Portal is designed to guarantee the citizen's right to public information. This digital platform, operational since 2014, centralises information on administrative organisations and allows citizens to exercise their right of access to public information in a simple and direct way. Its main functions are:

• Proactive publication of information on government activities, budgets, contracts, grants, agreements and administrative decisions, without the need for citizens to request it.
• Information request system to access documentation that is not publicly available, with legally established deadlines for the administrative response.
• Participatory processes that allow citizens to actively participate in the design and evaluation of public policies.
• Transparency indicators that objectively measure compliance with the obligations of the different administrations, allowing comparisons and encouraging continuous improvement.

This portal is based on three fundamental rights:

1. Right to know: every citizen can access public information, either through direct consultation on the portal or by formally exercising their right of access when the information is not available.
2. Right to understand: information must be presented in a clear, understandable way and adapted to different audiences, avoiding unnecessary technicalities and facilitating interpretation.
3. Right to participate: citizens can intervene in the management of public affairs through the citizen participation mechanisms enabled on the platform.

The platform complies with Law 19/2013, of 9 December, on transparency, access to public information and good governance, a regulation that represented a paradigm shift, recognising access to information as a fundamental right of the citizen and not as a gracious concession of the administration.

Consensus for Open Government: National Open Government Strategy

Another project advocating for open government is the "Consensus for Open Administration." According to this reference document, it is not only a matter of opening data or creating transparency portals, but of radically transforming the way in which public policies are designed and implemented. This consensus replaces the traditional vertical model, where administrations decide unilaterally, with a permanent dialogue between administrations, legal operators and citizens. The document is structured in four strategic axes:

1. Administration Open to the capacities of the public sector

• Development of proactive, innovative and inclusive public employment.
• Responsible implementation of artificial intelligence systems.
• Creating secure and ethical shared data spaces.

2. Administration Open to evidence-informed public policies and participation:

• Development of interactive maps of public policies.
• Systematic evaluation based on data and evidence.
• Incorporation of the citizen voice in all phases of the public policy cycle.

3. Administration Open to citizens:

• Evolution of "My Citizen Folder" towards more personalized services.
• Implementation of digital tools such as SomosGob.
• Radical simplification of administrative procedures and procedures.

4. Administration Open to Transparency, Participation and Accountability:

• Complete renovation of the Transparency Portal.
• Improvement of the transparency mechanisms of the General State Administration.
• Strengthening accountability systems.

Figure 1: Consensus on open government a. Source: own elaboration

The Open Government Forum: a space for permanent dialogue

All these projects and commitments need an institutional space where they can be continuously discussed, evaluated and adjusted. That is precisely the function of the Open Government Forum,  which functions as a body for participation and dialogue made up of representatives of the central, regional and local administration. And it is made up of 32 members of civil society carefully selected to ensure diversity of perspectives.

This balanced composition ensures that all voices are heard in the design and implementation of open government policies. The Forum meets regularly to assess the progress of commitments, identify obstacles and propose new initiatives that respond to emerging challenges.

Its transparent and participatory operation, with public minutes and open consultation processes, makes it an international benchmark for good practices in collaborative governance. The Forum is not simply a consultative body, but a space of co-decision where consensus is built that is later translated into concrete public policies.

Hazlab: innovation laboratory for citizen participation

Promoted by the General Directorate of Public Governance of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function, HazLab is part of the Plan for the Improvement of Citizen Participation in Public Affairs, included in Commitment 3 of the IV Open Government Plan of Spain (2020-2024).

HazLab is a virtual space designed to promote collaboration between the Administration, citizens, academia, professionals and social groups. Its purpose is to promote a new way of building public policies based on innovation, dialogue and cooperation. Specifically, there are three areas of work:

• Virtual spaces for collaboration, which facilitate joint work between administrations, experts and citizens.
• Projects for the design and prototyping of public services, based on participatory and innovative methodologies.
• Resource Library, a repository with audiovisual materials, articles, reports and guides on open government, participation, integrity and transparency.

Registration in HazLab is free and allows you to participate in projects, events and communities of practice. In addition, the platform offers a user manual and a code of conduct to facilitate responsible participation.

In conclusion, the open government projects that Spain is promoting represent much more than isolated initiatives of administrative modernization or technological updates. They constitute a profound cultural change in the very conception of public service, where citizens cease to be mere passive recipients of services to become active co-creators of public policies.

On October 6, the V Open Government Plan was approved, an initiative that gives continuity to the commitment of public administrations to transparency, citizen participation and accountability. This new plan, which will be in force until 2029, includes 218 measures grouped into 10 commitments that affect the various levels of the Administration.

In this article we are going to review the key points of the Plan, focusing on those commitments related to data and access to public information.

A document resulting from collaboration

The process of preparing the V Open Government Plan has been developed in  a participatory and collaborative way, with the aim of collecting proposals from different social actors. To this end, a public consultation was opened in which citizens, civil society organizations and institutional representatives were able to contribute ideas and suggestions. A series of deliberative workshops were also held. In total, 620 contributions were received from civil society and more than 300 proposals from ministries, autonomous communities and cities, and representatives of local entities.

These contributions were analysed and integrated into the plan's commitments, which were subsequently validated by the Open Government Forum. The result is a document that reflects a shared vision on how to advance transparency, participation and accountability in the public administrations as a whole.

10 main lines of action with a prominent role for open data

As a result of this collaborative work, 10 lines of action have been established. The first nine commitments include initiatives from the General State Administration (AGE), while the tenth groups together the contributions of autonomous communities and local entities:

1. Participation and civic space.
2. Transparency and access to information.
3. Integrity and accountability.
4. Open administration.
5. Digital governance and artificial intelligence.
6. Fiscal openness: clear and open accounts.
7. Truthful information / information ecosystem.
8. Dissemination, training and promotion of open government.
9. Open Government Observatory.
10. Open state.

Figure 1. 10 lines of action of the V Open Government Plan. Source: Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.

Data and public information are a key element in all of them. However, most of the measures related to this field are found within line of action 2, where there is a specific section on opening and reusing public information data. Among the measures envisaged, the following are contemplated:

• Data governance model: it is proposed to create a regulatory framework that facilitates the responsible and efficient use of public data in the AGE. It includes the regulation of collegiate bodies for the exchange of data, the application of European regulations and the creation of institutional spaces to design public policies based on data.
• Data strategy for a citizen-centred administration: it seeks to establish a strategic framework for the ethical and transparent use of data in the Administration.
• Publication of microdata from electoral surveys: the Electoral Law will be amended to include the obligation to publish anonymized microdata from electoral surveys. This improves the reliability of studies and facilitates open access to individual data for analysis.
• Support for local entities in the opening of data: a grant program has been launched to promote the opening of homogeneous and quality data in local entities through calls and/or collaboration agreements. In addition, its reuse will be promoted through awareness-raising actions, development of demonstrator solutions and inter-administrative collaboration to promote public innovation.
• Openness of data in the Administration of Justice: official data on justice will continue to be published on public portals, with the aim of making the Administration of Justice more transparent and accessible.
• Access and integration of high-value geospatial information: the aim is to facilitate the reuse of high-value spatial data in categories such as geospatial, environment and mobility. The measure includes the development of digital maps, topographic bases and an API to improve access to this information by citizens, administrations and companies.
• Open data of the BORME: work will be done to promote the publication of the content of the Official Gazette of the Mercantile Registry, especially the section on entrepreneurs, as open data in machine-readable formats and accessible through APIs.
• Databases of the Central Archive of the Treasury:  the public availability of the records of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Finance that do not contain personal data or are not subject to legal restrictions is promoted.
• Secure access to confidential public data for research and innovation: the aim is to establish a governance framework and controlled environments that allow researchers to securely and ethically access public data subject to confidentiality.
• Promotion of the secondary use of health data: work will continue on the National Health Data Space (ENDS), aligned with European regulations, to facilitate the use of health data for research, innovation and public policy purposes. The measure includes the promotion of technical infrastructures, regulatory frameworks and ethical guarantees to protect the privacy of citizens.
• Promotion of data ecosystems for social progress: it seeks to promote collaborative data spaces between public and private entities, under clear governance rules. These ecosystems will help develop innovative solutions that respond to social needs, fostering trust, transparency and the fair return of benefits to citizens.
• Enhancement of quality public data for citizens and companies: the generation of quality data will continue to be promoted in the different ministries and agencies, so that they can be integrated into the AGE's centralised catalogue of reusable information.
• Evolution of the datos.gob.es platform: work continues on the optimization of datos.gob.es. This measure is part of a continuous enrichment to address changing citizen needs and emerging trends.

In addition to this specific heading, measures related to open data are also included in other sections. For example, measure 3.5.5 proposes to transform the Public Sector Procurement Platform into an advanced tool that uses Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to strengthen transparency and prevent corruption. Open data plays a central role here, as it allows massive audits and statistical analyses to be carried out to detect irregular patterns in procurement processes. In addition, by facilitating citizen access to this information, social oversight and democratic control over the use of public funds are promoted.

Another example can be found in measure 4.1.1, where it is proposed to develop a digital tool for the General State Administration that incorporates the principles of transparency and open data from its design. The system would allow the traceability, conservation, access and reuse of public documents, integrating archival criteria, clear language and document standardization. In addition, it would be linked to the National Open Data Catalog to ensure that information is available in open and reusable formats.

The document not only highlights the possibilities of open data: it also highlights the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence both in improving access to public information and in the generation of open data useful for collective decision-making.

Promotion of open data in the Autonomous Communities and Cities

As mentioned above, the IV Open Government Plan also includes commitments made by regional bodies, which are detailed in line of action 10 on Open State, many of them focused on the availability of public data. 

For example, the Government of Catalonia reports its interest in optimising the resources available for the management of requests for access to public information, as well as in publishing disaggregated data on public budgets in areas related to children or climate change. For its part, the Junta de Andalucía wants to promote access to information on scientific personnel and scientific production, and develop a Data Observatory of Andalusian public universities, among other measures. Another example can be found in the Autonomous City of Melilla, which is working on an Open Data Portal.

With regard to the local administration, the commitments have been set through the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). The Network of Local Entities for Transparency and Citizen Participation of the FEMP proposes that local public administrations publish, at least, to choose from the following fields: street; budgets and budget execution; subsidies; public contracting and bidding; municipal register; vehicle census; waste and recycling containers; register of associations; cultural agenda; tourist accommodation; business areas and Industrial; Census of companies or economic agents.

All these measures highlight the interest in open data in Spanish institutions as a key tool to promote open government, promote services and products aligned with citizen needs and optimize decision-making.

A tracking system

The follow-up of the V Open Government Plan is based on a strengthened system of accountability and the strategic use of the HazLab digital platform, where five working groups are hosted, one of them focused on transparency and access to information.

Each initiative of the Plan also has a monitoring file with information on its execution, schedule and results, periodically updated by the responsible units and published on the Transparency Portal.

Conclusions

Overall, the V Open Government Plan seeks a more transparent, participatory Administration oriented to the responsible use of public data. Many of the measures included aim to strengthen the openness of information, improve document management and promote the reuse of data in key sectors such as health, justice or public procurement. This approach not only facilitates citizen access to information, but also promotes innovation, accountability, and a more open and collaborative culture of governance.

Spain has taken another step towards consolidating a public policy based on transparency and digital innovation. Through the General State Administration, the Government of Spain has signed its adhesion to the International Open Data Charter, within the framework of the IX Global Summit of the Open Government Partnership that is being held these days in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

With this adhesion, data is recognized as a strategic asset for the design of public policies and the improvement of services. In addition, the importance of its openness and reuse, together with the ethical use of artificial intelligence, as key drivers for digital transformation and the generation of social and economic value is underlined.

What is the International Open Data Charter?

The International Open Data Charter (ODC) is a global initiative that promotes the openness and reuse of public data as tools to improve transparency, citizen participation, innovation, and accountability. This initiative was launched in 2015 and is backed by governments, organizations and experts. Its objective is to guide public entities in the adoption of responsible, sustainable open data policies focused on social impact, respecting the fundamental rights of people and communities. To this end, it promotes six principles:

• Open data by default: data must be published proactively, unless there are legitimate reasons to restrict it (such as privacy or security).

• Timely and comprehensive data: data should be published in a complete, understandable and agile manner, as often as necessary to be useful. Its original format should also be respected whenever possible.

• Accessible and usable data: data should be available in open, machine-readable formats and without technical or legal barriers to reuse. They should also be easy to find.

• Comparable and interoperable data: institutions should work to ensure that data are accurate, relevant, and reliable, promoting common standards that facilitate interoperability and the joint use of different sources.

• Data for improved governance and citizen engagement: open data should strengthen transparency, accountability, and enable informed participation of civil society.

• Data for inclusive development and innovation: open access to data can drive innovative solutions, improve public services, and foster inclusive economic development.

The Open Data Charter also offers resources, guides and practical reports to support governments and organizations in applying its principles, adapting them to each context. Open data will thus be able to drive concrete reforms with a real impact. 

Spain: a consolidated open data policy that places us as a reference model

Adherence to the International Open Data Charter is not a starting point, but a step forward in a consolidated strategy that places data as a fundamental asset for the country's progress. For years, Spain has already had a solid framework of policies and strategies that have promoted the opening of data as a fundamental part of digital transformation:

• Regulatory framework: Spain has a legal basis that guarantees the openness of data as a general rule, including Law 37/2007 on the reuse of public sector information, Law 19/2013 on transparency and the application of Regulation (EU) 2022/868 on European data governance. This framework establishes clear obligations to facilitate the access, sharing and reuse of public data throughout the state.
• Institutional governance: the General Directorate of Data, under the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA), has the mission of boosting the management, sharing and use of data in different productive sectors of the Spanish economy and society. Among other issues, he leads the coordination of open data policy in the General State Administration.
• Strategic initiatives and practical tools: the Aporta Initiative, promoted by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service through the Public Business Entity Red.es, has been promoting the culture of open data and its social and economic reuse since 2009. To this end, the datos.gob.es platform centralises access to nearly 100,000 datasets and services made available to citizens by public bodies at all levels of administration. This platform also offers multiple resources (news, analysis, infographics, guides and reports, training materials, etc.) that help to promote data culture. 

To continue moving forward, work is underway on the V Open Government Plan (2025–2029), which integrates specific commitments on transparency, participation, and open data within a broader open government agenda.

All this contributes to Spain positioning, year after year, as a European benchmark in open data.

Next steps: advancing an ethical data-driven digital transformation

Compliance with the principles of the International Open Data Charter will be a transparent and measurable process. SEDIA, through the General Directorate of Data, will coordinate internal monitoring of progress. The Directorate-General for Data will act as a catalyst, promoting a culture of sharing, monitoring compliance with the principles of the Charter and promoting participatory processes to collect input from citizens and civil society.

In addition to the opening of public data, it should be noted that work will continue on the development of an ethical and people-centred digital transformation through actions such as:

• Creation of sectoral data spaces: the aim is to promote the sharing of public and private data that can be combined in a secure and sovereign way to generate high-impact use cases in strategic sectors such as health, tourism, agribusiness or mobility, boosting the competitiveness of the Spanish economy.

• Developing ethical and responsible AI: The national open data strategy is key to ensuring that algorithms are trained on high-quality, diverse and representative datasets, mitigating bias and ensuring transparency. This reinforces public trust and promotes a model of innovation that protects fundamental rights.

In short, Spain's adoption of the International Open Data Charter reinforces an already consolidated trajectory in open data, supported by a solid regulatory framework, strategic initiatives and practical tools that have placed the country as a benchmark in the field. In addition, this accession opens up new opportunities for international collaboration, access to expert knowledge and alignment with global standards. Spain is thus moving towards a more robust, inclusive data ecosystem that is geared towards social, economic and democratic impact.

In an increasingly complex world, public decisions need more than intuition: they require scientific evidence. This is where I+P (Innovation + Public Policy) initiatives come into play: an intersection between creativity, data-driven knowledge, and policy action.

In this article we will explain this concept, including examples and information about funding programs.

What is I+P?

I+P is not a mathematical formula, but a strategic practice that combines scientific knowledge, research, and citizen participation to improve the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of public policies. It is not only a matter of applying technology to the public sphere, but of rethinking how decisions are made, how solutions are formulated and how society is involved in these processes through the application of scientific methodologies.

This idea stems from the concept of "science for public policy", also known as "science for policy" or "Science for Policy" (S4P) and implies active collaboration between public administrations and the scientific community.

I+P initiatives promote empirical evidence and experimentation. To this end, they promote the use of data, emerging technologies, pilot tests, agile methodologies and feedback loops that help design more efficient and effective policies, focused on the real needs of citizens. This facilitates real-time decision-making  and the possibility of making agile adjustments in situations that require quick responses. In short, it is about providing more creative and accurate responses to today's challenges, such as climate change or digital inequality, areas where traditional policies can fall short.

The following visual summarizes these and other benefits.

Source: FECYT Call for Public Innovation - adapted by datos.gob.es.

Examples of R+P initiatives

The use of data for political decision-making was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, where policymakers were adapting the measures to be taken based on reports from institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO). But beyond these types of extraordinary events, today we find consolidated initiatives that increasingly seek to promote innovation and decision-making based on scientific data in the public sphere on an ongoing basis. Let's look at two examples.

• Periodic reports from scientific institutions to bring scientific knowledge closer to public decision-making

Scientific reports on topics such as climate change, bacterial resistance or food production are examples of how science can guide informed policy decisions.

The Science4Policy initiative  of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is an example of this. It is a collection of thematic reports that present solid evidence, generated in its research centers, on relevant social problems. Each report includes:

• An introduction to the problem and its social impact.
• Information on the research carried out by the CSIC on the subject.
• Conclusions and recommendations for public policies.

Its main objective is to transform scientific knowledge into accessible contributions for non-specialized audiences, thus facilitating informed decisions by public authorities.

• Public innovation laboratories, a space for science-based creativity

Public innovation labs or GovLabs are experimental spaces that allow public employees, scientists, experts in various fields and citizens to co-create policies, prototype solutions and learn iteratively.

An example is the Public Innovation Laboratory (LIP) promoted by the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP), where pilots have been carried out  on the use of technologies to promote the new generation of jobs, intermunicipal collaboration to share talent or the decentralization of selective tests. In addition, they have an Innovation Resources Catalogue where tools with open licences launched by various organisations are compiled and can be used to support public entrepreneurs.

It is also worth highlighting the Spanish Network for Public Innovation and Scientific Transfer, promoted by the NovaGob Foundation. It is a collaborative space that brings together professionals, public administrations, universities and third sector organisations with the aim of transforming public management in Spain. Through working groups and repositories of good practices, it promotes the use of artificial intelligence, administrative simplification and the improvement of citizen service.

We also find public innovation laboratories at the regional level, such as Govtechlab Madrid, a project led by the madri+d Foundation for Knowledge that connects startups and digital SMEs with public institutions to solve real challenges. During the 2023/2024 academic year, they launched 9 pilots, for example, to collect and analyse the opinion of citizens to make better decisions in the Alcobendas City Council, unify the collection and management of data in the registrations of the activities of the Youth Area of the Boadilla del Monte City Council or provide truthful and updated information digitally on the commercial fabric of Mostoles.

The role of governments and public institutions

Innovation in public policy can be driven by a diversity of actors: public administrations open to change, universities and research centres,  civic startups and technology companies, civil society organisations or committed citizens.

The European Commission, for example, plays a key role in strengthening the science-for-policy ecosystem in Europe, promoting the effective use of scientific knowledge in decision-making at all levels: European, national, regional and local. Through programmes such as Horizon Europe and the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2025-2027, actions are promoted to develop capacities, share good practices and align research with societal needs.

In Spain we also find actions such as the recent call for funding from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the National Office of Scientific Advice, whose objective is to promote:

• Research projects that generate new scientific evidence applicable to the design of public policies (Category A).
• Scientific advice and knowledge transfer activities between researchers and public officials (Category B).

Projects can receive up to €100,000 (Category A) or €25,000 (Category B), covering up to 90% of the total cost. Research organizations, universities, health entities, technology centers, R+D centers and other actors that promote the transfer of R+D can participate. The deadline to apply for the aid ends on September 17, 2025. For more information, you should visit the rules of the call or attend some training sessions that are being held.

Conclusion

In a world where social, economic and environmental challenges are increasingly complex, we need new ways of thinking and acting from public institutions. For this reason, R+P is not a fad, it is a necessity that allows us to move from "we think it works" to "we know it works", promoting a more adaptive, agile and effective policy.