In the last year, we have seen how decisions on health matters have marked the political, social and economic agenda of our country, due to the global pandemic situation resulting from COVID-19. Decisions taken on the basis of public data on cumulative incidence, hospital bed occupancy or vaccination rates have marked our daily lives.

This fact highlights the importance of open health data for the management and decision-making of our governments, but it is also fundamental as a basis for solutions that help both patients and doctors.

The types of data used in the field of health and wellbeing are numerous: results of medical studies and research, anonymised patient records, data on patients' habits (such as how much exercise we do or how much sleep we get) or data linked to health services and management. All these data are of great value that can be exploited by healthcare professionals, providers and citizens alike.

How have health services been using open data?

According to the study "The Open Data Impact Map", a project of the Open Data for Development Network (OD4D), health-related organisations use open data mainly for the purpose of optimising their management and organisation of resources. Of the 124 organisations interviewed in 2018, only 19 indicated that they use open data for the development of health products and services, and only 13 for research. The same study indicates that the most widely used open data are those directly related to health, and that very few organisations combine them with datasets from other themes - mainly geospatial or demographic or social indicators - to generate deeper and more detailed knowledge.

However, the opportunities in this field are vast, as shown below.

Click here to see the infographic in full size and in its accessible version

Examples of services based on open health data

The situation seems to be changing and there is increasing momentum for the implementation of applications, services or projects based on data in this field. Europe is committed to the creation of data spaces focused on the field of health, as part of its strategy to build a European cloud, while the Spanish government has included the promotion of Digital Health solutions in its Digital Spain 2025 strategy. Among the actions envisaged by our country is the streamlining of information systems to enable better data sharing and interoperability.

Applications that collect health services

When it comes to health apps, the most common are those that help citizens find local healthcare providers that meet their needs. An example is 24-hour pharmacies in Tudela and la Ribera or the search engine for health centres in the community of Madrid. Thanks to these, patients can find out where the centres are located and find out information of interest, such as opening hours. Some applications include additional services, such as Salud Responde, from the Junta de Andalucía, which allows the request and modification of medical appointments, improving the efficiency of the system.

But such services can also provide important information for more efficient resource management, especially when cross-referenced with other datasets. For example, Pharmacies, Health Centres and Health Areas of the Government of Cantabria, developed by Esri, includes information on the territorial organisation of health resources according to geographical, demographic, epidemiological, socio-economic, labour, cultural, climatological and transport factors. Its main objective is not only to facilitate citizens' access to this information, but also to ensure that "the provision of health services is carried out in the best conditions of accessibility, efficiency and quality".

The Health, environmental and socio-economic atlas of the Basque Country by small areas shows a series of maps with the aim of "monitoring geographical inequalities in health, socioeconomic and environmental indicators in the Basque Country, taking into account the gender perspective". This information is very useful for service managers in trying to promote greater equity in access to healthcare.

Disease prevention tools

There are also applications on the market aimed at disease prevention, such as ZaraHealth, a web application that displays real-time data on water quality, air quality and pollen levels in the city of Zaragoza. The user can set a series of thresholds for pollen and pollution levels, so that a warning is issued when they are reached. In this way, they can avoid going outdoors or exercising in areas that do not meet their needs. APCYL: Allergy to pollen CyL has the same goal.

Another important aspect of our health is our diet, a key factor in the prevention of various pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. Websites such as Mils, which offers detailed nutritional information on food, can help us to eat more healthily.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases

Open data can help assess health outcomes, develop more effective treatments and predict disease outbreaks.

In the field of mental health, for example, we find Mentalcheck, an app that enables psychological assessments and self-reporting via mobile devices. It aims to improve Ecological Momentary Assessment and Intervention (EMA and EMI). The application incorporates open data on medications and mental health services from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It also allows the integration of psychological and physiological data to generate correlations.

Another example is Qmenta, a company focused on analysing brain data, using MRI and related clinical data. In recent months they have also incorporated open data related to COVID-19 in some of their work. Through medical image processing algorithms, they seek to accelerate the development of new therapies for neurological diseases.

Up-to-date information on diseases or system needs

Another area where open data can drive improvements is in the reporting of certain situations. This has become especially important in the context of the global pandemic where citizens demand constant and updated information. In this sense, we find the scorecard of the Ministry of Health at state level and different regional initiatives, such as Curve in Aragon: Evolution of Coronavirus in Aragon, or Evolution of the coronavirus in Castilla y León. These are just a couple of examples, but it should be noted that there are numerous efforts in this area, as the Ministry of Health reports on its website.

It is also important to make information on medicines transparent, both for doctors and patients, by facilitating comparisons. In this regard, the Nomenclature of Medicines shows more than 20,000 medicines marketed in Spain with Social Security coverage, offering information on price, presentation, links to the package leaflet, safety notes and active ingredients, among others.

Finally, it is also important to provide information on resource needs, for example, doctor vacancies or the state of blood reserves.

Data in general has driven important advances in improving health outcomes, from increased access to care to medical research and diagnosis. Open data is a key ingredient that can help further enrich these solutions with new variables. It is therefore essential that more and more health and wellness data will be opened, following a set of guidelines and standards that ensure the privacy and security of patients. In this sense, the report "Open data and health: technological context, stakeholders and legal framework" includes information on what types of data can be opened and what the legal framework says about it.

Do you know more use cases of open data applied to the health and welfare sector? Leave us a comment or write to dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.

Open data is a source of information for the development of smart services, as well as for decision-making and policy-making. It is therefore not surprising that an increasing number of public bodies, in addition to opening data - for reuse by others and for reasons of accountability and transparency - are also reusing their own data for different purposes.

In this sense, the rise of smart city management platforms is encouraging many city councils and autonomous communities to develop smart applications and tools that take advantage of the use of data and analytical techniques to innovate and improve the public services they offer to citizens. Below, we show you several examples.

Resource optimisation

Open data can be used by public bodies to understand how public resources are being managed, as well as to promote actions that enable more efficient management and economic savings, e.g. in terms of energy consumption or by promoting more efficient resource management.

Energy consumption scorecard. Junta de Castilla y León.

This energy datahub, developed by the open data initiative of the Junta de Castilla y León, offers detailed and visual information on energy consumption in the centres managed by the Junta, such as educational centres, health centres, administrative offices or hospitals, among others.

It is a scorecard that gathers information from more than 1,500 consumption centres, offering different types of graphical representations that make it easier for the reader to understand the data. The data source used for the development of this platform can be consulted via this link.

The tool facilitates disaggregated analysis by type of energy and geographical location. This information may be of interest to citizens, but also to the Board's own managers. Thanks to this platform, between 2015 and the beginning of 2020, the Board saved more than 12 million euros in electricity.

In addition, the regional government has an electricity table that focuses exclusively on the electricity consumption of hospitals in Castilla y León on an hourly basis. The data is linked to meteorological information, so that future costs can be estimated and the use of heating can be optimised. The data used to develop this table can be consulted here.

Organic solid waste management. City Council of Santiago de Compostela.

The City Council of Santiago de Compostela has launched, within the Smartiago initiative, a project that aims to achieve a sustainable and intelligent management of municipal solid waste (MSW). The main objective of this tool is to design, develop and build smart surface containers for the characterisation of organic solid waste, based on the use of open IoT technologies, the application of machine learning algorithms and the use of open data as sources for the enrichment of community composting prediction models. This aims to achieve the 50% readiness for reuse and recycling target, up from the current 13%. The project, currently under development, will also include a gamification app to encourage good practices in sustainability.

Improving service delivery

Thanks to open data it is also possible to create tools for social service professionals to provide a better response and attention to the needs of citizens. Let's look at a couple of examples:

Civil protection map. Generalitat de Catalunya.

This interactive map shows the main resources of the civil protection system in Catalonia. The civil protection map allows you to see where the different risks are located (technological, environmental...) and the situation of the teams in order to better plan responses. Here you can consult the main source of data used by this tool.

Pharmacological Guide. Andalusian Regional Government.

This application has been designed by the Andalusian Regional Government to offer healthcare professionals a faster and more efficient consultation of the main drugs used in emergency care in Andalusia. It is a useful working tool for those healthcare professionals who aid in critical situations as it includes constantly updated and contrasted information on the main indications, doses, contraindications and interactions of the most commonly used drugs.

Decision-making and policy formulation

Open data provides greater knowledge about what is happening around us, enabling us to make better decisions. It is a very useful tool for public bodies to develop policies that respond to the real needs of citizens. Over the last year, we have seen how measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have been taken on the basis of data on the evolution of the disease. Other examples are:

The Noise Map. Valladolid City Council.

Valladolid City Council has a Noise Map that organises information on noise pollution. This map has been developed to be used in a compulsory way in the execution of the calculations foreseen in the different regulatory standards, as well as in the technical building code and which will apply to residential, institutional and industrial buildings, as well as in the technical building code and which will apply to residential, institutional and industrial buildings.

Intelligent tourism management platform. Conil Town Council.

Within the framework of Red.es' Smart Cities, Territories and Islands calls for proposals, we are finding more and more proposals that include the development of data management platforms that promote efficient decision-making. One example is the City Council of Conil de la Frontera, which is working with a smart tourism management platform to increase the knowledge of tourists, through the aggregation and centralisation of data related to the origin of the tourist, mobility and most visited areas, preferred places to visit and stay overnight or satisfaction surveys, among other parameters. In this way, the local administration can identify patterns and carry out actions to adapt and improve management, detect irregularities, promote economic and business development or favour the generation of employment in the priority areas identified. These data have also been used to estimate the real population during the pandemic and to make a better estimate of incidence rates. Although these data do not appear to be public for the moment, the aim is to open them to companies through an open data platform.

CitizenLab. Madrid City Council.

The regional government of Madrid, together with Grant Thornton, has launched a datalab to better understand citizen behaviour. The project seeks to analyse predictive models of citizen behaviour using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the aim of improving public services in the Madrid region in areas such as mobility, healthcare, tourism and infrastructure. In the last year, for example, it has been used to predict the demand for vaccines.

Undoubtedly, there are numerous applications and digital tools used by public administrations - and it seems that there will be more - that base their operation on open data to offer more and better services to citizens. In this article we have compiled some examples, but if you know of any related ones that may be of interest, do not hesitate to leave a comment or write to us at our email address dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.

The Cross-Forest project combines two areas of great interest to Europe, as set out in the Green Deal. On the one hand, the care and protection of the environment - in particular our forests-. On the other hand, the promotion of an interoperable European digital ecosystem.

The project started in 2018 and ended on 23 June, resulting in different tools and resources, as we will see below.

What is Cross-Forest?

Cross-Forest is a project co-funded by the European Commission through the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) programme, which seeks to publish and combine open and linked datasets of forest inventories and forest maps, in order to promote models that facilitate forest management and protection.

The project has been carried out by a consortium formed by the Tragsa Public Group, the University of Valladolid and Scayle Supercomputacion of Castilla y León, with the institutional support of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO, in Spanish acronyms). On the Portuguese side, the Direção-Geral do Território of Portugal has participated.

The project has developed:

• A Digital Services Infrastructure (DSI) for open forest data, oriented towards modelling forest evolution at country level, as well as predicting forest fire behaviour and spread. Data on fuel materials, forest maps and spread models have been used. High Performance Computing (HPC) resources have been used for their execution, due to the complexity of the models and the need for numerous simulations.
• An ontological model of forest data common to public administrations and academic institutions in Portugal and Spain, for the publication of linked open data. Specifically, a set of eleven ontologies has been created. These ontologies, which are aligned with the INSPIRE Directive, interrelate with each other and are enriched by linking to external ontologies. Although they have been created with a focus on these two countries, the idea is that any other territory can use them to publish their forest data, in an open and standard format.

The different datasets used in the project are published separately, so that users can use the ones they want. All the data, which are published under CC BY 4.0 licence, can be accessed through this Cross-Forest Github repository and the IEPNB Data Catalogue.

4 flagship projects in Linked Open Data format

Thanks to Cross-Forest, a large part of the information of 4 flagship projects of the General Directorate of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has been published in linked open data format:

• National Forest Inventory (IFN-3). It includes more than 100 indicators of the state and evolution of the forests. These indicators range from their surface area or the tree and shrub species that inhabit them, to data related to regeneration and biodiversity. It also incorporates the value in monetary terms of the environmental, recreational and productive aspects of forest systems, among other aspects. It has more than 90,000 plots. Two databases corresponding to a subset of the NFI indicators have been published openly.
• Forest Map of Spain (Scale 1:50.000). It consists of the mapping of the situation of forest stands, following a conceptual model of hierarchical land uses.
• National Soil Erosion Inventory (INES). This is a study that detects, quantifies and cartographically reflects the main erosion processes affecting the Spanish territory, both forest and agricultural. Its objective is to know its evolution over time thanks to continuous data collection and it has more than 20,000 plots.
• General Forest Fire Statistics. It includes the information collected in the Fire Reports that are completed by the Autonomous Communities for each of the forest fires that take place in Spain.

These datasets, along with others from this Ministry, have been federated with datos.gob.es, so that they are also available through our data catalogue. Like any other dataset that is published on datos.gob.es, they will automatically be federated with the European portal as well.

The predecessor of this project was CrossNature. This project resulted in the Eidos database, which includes linked data on wild species of fauna and flora in Spain and Portugal. It is also available on datos.gob.es and is reflected in the European portal.

Both projects are an example of innovation and collaboration between countries, with the aim of achieving more harmonised and interoperable data, facilitating to compare indicators and improve actions, in this case, in the field of forest protection.

Open mobility data plays a key role in transforming current transport networks and systems, promoting their digitization and improving their sustainability and efficiency. The European Union is aware of this situation, and for this reason it has not only included mobility data among the categories considered of high value in the directive (EU) 2019/1024, but also highlighted its importance in the new "Sustainable and smart mobility strategy", including lines of action related to its impulse, how we approach previously.

In this new article we are going to focus on the situation in Spain, where measures related to open data have also been included in the national mobility strategy.

The Secure, Sustainable, Connected Mobility Strategy 2030

The Secure, Sustainable, Connected Mobility Strategy 2030 (es.movilidad) published by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA) in September 2020 recognizes the importance of open data in the process of digitization and automation of transport, as well as the regulatory challenges posed by collection conditions, transfer and access to the data generated in the different parts of the value chain. For this reason, the strategy proposes that a future Law on Sustainable Mobility and Transport Financing addresses these issues, offering solutions that eliminate barriers to the opening of data andwhat guarantee the privacy of users and the protection of different business strategies.

Although they are present in other measures, in axis 5 (Intelligent Mobility) of the Strategy there are four measures, three of them within the line of action for the Facilitation of Mobility as a Service, Open Data and New Technologies for Analysis and Optimization of Mobility, in which open data explicitly plays a prominent role:

• To the extent designed to promote the publication of open mobility data from MITMA in coordination with the data.gob.es platform aims to adopt a proactive role in making open data available (both planned and in real operation) that are relevant to society.
• The implementation of the National Data Access Point for multimodal travel aims to create a single repository of open transport data (schedules, fares, routes, geographical coordinates of stops, etc.) provided by transport authorities, operators, providers of shared mobility services or transport services on demand, infrastructure managers, etc. anyway at the national level. In this sense, it should be noted that MITMA intends to go beyond the mandatory minimum and create three other national access points (real-time traffic, safety information in relation to traffic and safe parking for freight transport).
• To promote the development of mobility applications, guaranteeing the availability of quality and real-time data, MITMA will analyze the convenience of promoting complementary regulation so that all transport operators, infrastructure managers, and transport service providers on demand. provide dynamic, reliable and real-time data of their transport services to be made available to third parties.
• Finally the design and implementation of the SIMPLE technology platform, also foresees the reuse of information throughout the logistics and transport chain, based on the principle of providing unique data only once. This platform will allow to know the traceability of goods in the different means of transport and, on the other hand, will allow the interconnection between the Public Administration and the different agents of the private logistics sector to facilitate trade and transport, nationally and internationally.

These measures are summarized in the following image:

On the other hand, a request for expressions of interest to identify proposals for the integration of artificial intelligence in the value chains of the economy in order to promote the digital transformation of the economic fabric, within the framework of Recovery Plan. And one of the five axes on which one's own National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (ENIA) recognizes the impact of AI and data is of course, sustainable and smart mobility. It should be noted that it is an invitation aimed at projects in the phases closest to the market of the innovation process based on medium to high maturity technologies (TRL 6 onwards) as a complement to R&D support actions.

Now that the pandemic period is coming to an end, the economic recovery effort opens up fascinating opportunities for innovation and digital transformation in sectors where the penetration of artificial intelligence and the use of data so far has been much lower than the sector of the information technologies, something that not only happens in mobility and transport but also in the farming, energy or health and education.

We are therefore faced with a unique opportunity that we cannot afford to miss; which is also accompanied by a significant boost in the form of public financing and in which transport and mobility stand out due to their impact not only on the economy, but also on the environment and on the quality of life of citizens.

Content written by Jose Luis Marín, Senior Consultant in Data, Strategy, Innovation & Digitalization.

The contents and points of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of its author.

Content prepared by Julián Valero, professor at the University of Murcia and Coordinator of the Research Group "Innovation, Law and Technology" (iDerTec).

Contents and points of view expressed in this publication are the exclusive responsibility of its author.

Over the last year we have heard about 5G on numerous occasions, often linked to hoaxes and fake news with no scientific basis that make us forget what is really important: 5G will mean an unprecedented technological revolution that will affect our professional and personal lives, and that will bring about changes in all sectors of activity.

What exactly is 5G?

5G refers to the fifth generation of mobile communication networks. The previous four were characterised by the following functionalities:

• 1G: first mobile phones with talk-only capability.
• 2G: phones incorporate the ability to send SMS.
• 3G: handsets are able to connect to the internet.
• 4G: broadband is developed, capable of assimilating the exponential increase in mobile data consumption, facilitating functionalities such as video streaming and augmented reality.

5G is not entirely new, but an evolution of previous generations that allows for more efficient use of spectrum. 5G technology significantly improves performance in several aspects:

• High density of connected devices: The higher network capacity allows a greater number of devices to be incorporated through simultaneous connections, facilitating, among other things, the mass deployment of sensors and massive machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.
• Faster speed: The speed of 5G is approaching 15 to 20 Gbs per second, which is almost real time. This is expected to further expand the use of virtual desktops or cloud storage. Applications can be accessed and software can be run remotely instantaneously.
• Lower latency: Latency is the time it takes for a data packet to be transferred within the network. That is, the time it takes for an action to be executed from the time we have launched it.  With 5G, latency is around 1 millisecond (ms) compared to 20-30 ms for 4G networks.

Benefits that go well beyond the mobile pone

All this not only means improvements for our smartphones, but also a huge employment and economic opportunity. The European Union highlights the impact of 5G in key sectors such as transport, healthcare and industry, with a benefit of more than €500 billion per year worldwide for 5G-enabled service providers.

In the healthcare sector, it will streamline secure online consultations and remote procedures, such as robotic surgery, improving resource efficiency. In transport, it will be a boon for autonomous vehicles: cars will be able to connect with each other (vehicle-to-vehicle or V2V) to share data on routes or their speed, which can be a big improvement in terms of safety. The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) estimates that, with the advent of this technology, the risk of traffic accidents could be reduced by 65-68%. And in the industrial sector, it will serve to optimise process automation and control of operations by improving the interconnection between the various machines, objects and devices in the production chain.

Its impact on Smart cities and the world of open data

This revolution will also reach Smart Cities. The ability to manage millions of devices in real time will drive the Internet of Things (IoT), with more and more objects becoming connected to each other. By 2025 there will be 55.7 billion connected devices worldwide, 75% of which will be connected to an IoT platform, many linked to smart city environments.

This growing number of interconnected objects, capable of capturing information and talking to each other, will generate an unprecedented volume of data that can be analysed to make informed decisions about what changes or new projects will most benefit citizens.

In addition to 5G, another factor that will facilitate immediacy is edge computing. This technology allows data to be processed and analysed locally, i.e. as close as possible to the sensors that generated the data. This avoids moving all the raw data to central servers, improving efficiency and saving time.

Despite these opportunities, there are still challenges to overcome. Security concerns, cost of implementation or the need for scalable and versatile infrastructures are barriers to overcome to facilitate the expansion of new use cases.

5G in Europe and Spain

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of resilient, high-speed communications for working remotely, in our daily lives, and for sustaining business operations and processes. This fact, coupled with the advantages and opportunities mentioned above, has led the European Union to include 5G as one of the 7 key areas of the FRR (Recovery and Resilience Facility). It is estimated that a significant part of its planned digital budget of EUR 150 billion will be used to fund 5G network infrastructure. This is coupled with funds from the Connecting Europe Facility and the Digital Europe Programme strategic investments. All of this is part of the 5G Plan for Europe.

In Spain, the promotion of 5G is one of the lines of action of the Digital Spain 2025 Agenda. The 5G technology promotion strategy will have a budget of 300 million euros in 2021. This strategy continues the work started with the National 5G Plan 2018-2020, which has contributed to making Spain the European country with the largest number of cities with available 5G services and pilot projects where possible applications of this technology are being tested.  The calls for proposals to promote the development of 5G technology pilot projects, carried out by Red.es, have helped to launch use cases that experiment with virtual reality and augmented reality in Andalusia or promote the supervision of railway infrastructures using drones and industry 4.0 in Galicia. All this has led to the fact that, according to the latest DESI index, Spain is above the EU average in terms of 5G network readiness.

In our country, 5G will make it possible to extend broadband coverage at high speeds in rural and isolated areas, which will help reduce the digital divide and fight depopulation. It will also boost the availability of digital public services.

In short, this is a great opportunity that will accelerate the digital transformation of society and the economy.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.

The following infographic shows the strategic, regulatory and political situation that will affect the world of open data in Spain and Europe. To deepen its content you can read the following articles:

• The data-related strategies that will mark 2021 in Europe
• The data-related strategies that will mark 2021 in Spain

After analyzing the European framework that will shape the world of data in 2021, it is time to focus on our country. The Spanish strategy linked to the world of data is aligned with the European one. As we will see below, a large part of the European measures have been included in the national strategies.

At the end of 2020, two major strategic plans were presented that mark the lines to be followed this year: the Digital Spain Plan 2025 and the IV Open Government Plan of Spain 2020-2024.

Digital Spain Plan 2025

The Digital Agenda for 2025, presented in November, includes among its strategic axes “moving towards a data economy, guaranteeing security and privacy and taking advantage of the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence with the objective that, at least, 25% of companies use Artificial Intelligence and Big Data within five years. ”

Among its measurements are:

• The implementation of a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. This strategy, which was already published in December of last year, includes a series of measures related to the availability of open data, an essential component for the proper functioning and training of Artificial Intelligence systems. Some of these measures are the development of accessible repositories, the provision of assistance to companies in defining open or shared data strategies, or the creation of a multidisciplinary open data working group in the state public sector. It should be noted that in 2019 the Ministry of Science and Innovation published the Spanish R & D & I Strategy in Artificial Intelligence, which highlighted the role of datos.gob.es in making open data available to citizens and had an impact in the need to establish mechanisms so that the administration can safely and ethically exploit the data generated by other administrations and even by private companies, all with the aim of improving public services, guaranteeing social welfare and individual and public safety .

• Creation of a data office. This body, which will have a Chief Data Officer (CDO) in charge, will be in charge of designing and proposing strategies that make public data of the Administrations available to companies and citizens. Among other functions, it will have to establish the necessary measures to promote the sharing and use of public and private data, create environments to safely share data between companies and public administrations in an aligned and coordinated way, invest in the generation of "lakes sectoral data” and propose governance mechanisms.

• Among its ten points, the Digital Spain Plan 2025 includes the impulse of the digitization of Public Administration with the aim of improving its efficiency and effectiveness. In this sense, the Digitalization Plan of Public Administrations 2021 -2025 has been made public, which highlights, among other issues, the intention to evolve the model of access to public and private information to facilitate the development of high-quality services. added value, based on the work carried out by the Aporta Initiative.

• Promotion of shared data spaces. Spain will play an active role in the European strategy "European Cloud Federation". Work will be done to promote private investments in Data Centers and an Iberian space will be promoted, together with Portugal, to promote the development of advanced data computing technologies.

The plan also includes the need to digitize specific areas of the administrations to reinforce their effectiveness and efficiency. Among other issues, a public administration based on secure data will be promoted. The provision of information with an “Open Data” orientation will be promoted, as well as the analysis of consolidated data, or the automation of processes, always with a special focus on data protection. A secure framework for the interconnection and management of data in the field of public health will also be developed.

IV Open Government Plan of Spain 2020-2024

The IV Open Government Plan of Spain 2020-2024 includes 10 commitments assumed by public administrations to “reinforce transparency and accountability, improve participation, establish systems of public integrity, and train and sensitize citizens and staff public employee in matters of Open Government .”

The plan includes different measures related to open data and the reuse of public data, such as:

• The transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 on open data and the reuse of public sector information into the Spanish legal system to provide the necessary legal coverage that would make it possible to expand the scope and scope of reuse. The deadline for adaptation to our regulatory framework ends in June of this year.

• The reform of the law on transparency, access to information and good governance to facilitate compliance with the obligations of active publicity and favor the exercise of the right of access to information.

• Improving the provision of real-time access to dynamic data through appropriate technical means, increasing the provision of valuable public data for reuse.

• The promotion of data sets with high reuse value, through their selection, the definition of common vocabularies and their publication. Likewise, permanent contact will be established with the community of reusers to promote the use and improve the catalog, as well as with the business community and civil society to facilitate access to public information.

Based on these two major strategic plans, the national lines of action in the field of open data will be articulated, which will also be included in the Digital Rights Charter that will be released in 2021 - after an open consultation process -. This letter will guarantee the right of access to public information, and it is indicated that public administrations will be governed by the principle of transparency and data reuse.

You can see a summary of the strategies related to the data that will mark 2021 in Europe and Spain in this link.

Spain already has a new National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The document, which includes 600 million euros for measures related to artificial intelligence (AI), was presented on December 2 at the Palacio de la Moncloa.

The National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (known as ENIA) is component 16 of the Plan for the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience of the Spanish economy, and one of the fundamental proposals of the Digital Spain Agenda 2025 in its line 9 of action, which highlights AI as a key element for boosting the growth of our economy in the coming years. In addition, the new strategy is aligned with the European action plans developed in this area, and especially with the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence.

Objectives and lines of action

The ENIA is a dynamic and flexible framework, open to the contribution of companies, citizens, social agents and the rest of the administrations, which was created with 7 objectives: scientific excellence and innovation, the projection of the Spanish language, the creation of qualified employment, the transformation of the Spanish productive fabric, the creation of an environment of trust in relation to AI and the promotion of an inclusive and sustainable AI that takes into account humanist values.

To achieve these objectives, 6 lines of action have been created, which bring together a total of 30 measures to be developed in the period 2020-2025:

In short, the aim is to create a national ecosystem of innovative, competitive and ethical artificial intelligence. And to do this, it is essential to have large volumes of quality and interoperable data and metadata, which are accessible, complete, secure and respectful of privacy.

Open data in the National Strategy of Artificial Intelligence

The availability of open data is essential for the proper functioning of artificial intelligence, since the algorithms must be fed and trained by data whose quality and availability allows continuous improvement. In this way we can create value services that impact on the improvement of society and the economy.

The National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence highlights how, thanks to the various initiatives undertaken in recent years, Spain has become a European benchmark for open data, highlighting the role of the Aporta Initiative in promoting the openness and reuse of public information.

In strategic axis 3 of the document, several key areas are highlighted where to act linked to AI data platforms and technological infrastructures:

• Developing the regulatory framework for open data, to define a strategy for publication and access to public data from administrations in multilingual formats, and to ensure the correct and safe use of the data.
• Promote actions in the field of data platforms, models, algorithms, inference engines and cyber security, with the focus on boosting research and innovation. Reference is made to the need to promote Digital Enabling Technologies such as connectivity infrastructures, massive data environments (cloud) or process automation and control, paying special attention to Strategic Supercomputing Capabilities (HPC).
• Promote the specific development of AI technologies in the field of natural language processing, promoting the use of Spanish in the world. In this sense, the National Plan of Language Technologies will be promoted and the LEIA project, developed by the Royal Spanish Academy for the defense, projection and good use of the Spanish language in the digital universe, will be supported.

In the specific case of open data, one of the first measures highlighted is the creation of the Data Office at the state level that will coordinate all public administrations in order to homogenize the storage, access and processing of data. To strengthen this action, a Chief Data Officer will be appointed.  In addition, a multidisciplinary working group on open data in the state public sector will be set up to highlight the efforts that have been made in the field of data in Spain and to continue promoting the openness and reuse of public sector information.

The strategy also considers the private sector, and highlights the need to promote the development of accessible repositories and to guide companies in the definition of open or shared data strategies. In this sense, shared spaces of sectorial and industrial data will be created, which will facilitate the creation of AI applications. Furthermore, mention is made of the need to offer data disaggregated by sex, age, nationality and territory, in such a way as to eliminate biases linked to these aspects.

In order to stimulate the use and governance of public and citizen data, the creation of the Data for Social Welfare Project is established as an objective, where open and citizen-generated data will play a key role in promoting accountability and public participation in government.

Other highlights of the ENIA

In addition to actions related to open data, the National Strategy of Artificial Intelligence includes more transversal actions, for example:

• The incorporation of AI in the public administration will be promoted, improving from transparency and effective decision-making to productivity and quality of service (making management and the relationship with citizens more efficient). Here the Aporta Initiative has been playing a key role with its support to public sector bodies in the publication of quality data and the promotion of its reuse. Open data repositories will be created to allow optimal access to the information needed to develop new services and applications for the public and private sectors. In this sense, an innovation laboratory (GobTechLab) will be created and training programs will be carried out.
• The aim is to promote scientific research through the creation of a Spanish Network of Excellence in AI with research and training programs and the setting up of new technological development centers. Special attention will be given to closing the gender gap.
• A program of aid to companies for the development of AI and data solutions will be launched, and the network of Digital innovation Hubs will be reinforced. A NextTech Fund for public-private venture capital will be created.
• Talent will be promoted through the National Digital Skills Plan. AI-related elements will be introduced in schools and the university and professional AI training offer will be boosted. The SpAIn Talent Hub program will be developed in coordination with ICEX Invest to attract foreign investment and talent.
• A novelty of the strategy is that it takes into account ethical and social regulation to fight discrimination. Observatories for ethical and legal evaluation of algorithmic systems will be created and the Digital Rights Charter, currently under revision, will be developed.

In short, we are facing a necessary strategy to boost the growth of AI in Spain, promoting our society and economy, and improving our international competitiveness.