eventos

Alicante will host the Gaia-X Summit 2023 on November 9 and 10, which will review the latest progress made by this initiative in promoting data sovereignty in Europe. Interoperability, transparency and regulatory compliance acquire a practical dimension through the exchange and exploitation of data articulated under a reliable cloud environment.

It will also address the relationships established with industry leaders, experts, companies, governments, academic institutions and various organisations, facilitating the exchange of ideas and experiences between the various stakeholders involved in the European digital transformation. The event will feature keynotes, interactive workshops and panel discussions, exploring the limitless possibilities of cooperative digital ecosystems, and a near future where data has become a high value-added asset.

This event is organised by the european association Gaia-X, in collaboration with the  Spanish Gaia-X Hub. It also counts with the participation of the Data Office the project is being developed under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The project is being developed under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Gaia-X initiative aims to ensure that data is stored and processed in a secure and sovereign manner, respecting European regulations, and to foster collaboration between different and heterogeneous actors, such as companies, governments and organisations. Thus, Gaia-X promotes innovation promotes innovation and data-driven economic development in Europe. The open and collaborative relationship with the European Union is therefore essential for the achievement of its objectives.

Digital sovereignty: a Europe fit for the data age

As for Gaia-X, one of the major objectives of the European Union is to to promote digital sovereignty throughout the European Union. To this end, it promotes the development of key industries and technologies for its competitiveness and security, strengthens its trade relations and supply chains, and mitigates external dependencies, focusing on the reindustrialisation of its territory and on ensuring its strategic digital autonomy.

The concept of digital sovereignty encompasses different dimensions: technological, regulatory and socio-economic. The technology dimension refers to the hardware, software, cloud and network infrastructure used to access, process and store data. Meanwhile, the regulatory dimension refers to the rules that provide legal certainty to citizens, businesses and institutions operating in a digital environment. Finally, the socio-economic dimension focuses on entrepreneurship and individual rights in the new global digital environment. To make progress in all these dimensions, the EU relies on projects such as Gaia-X.

The initiative seeks to create federated, open, secure and transparent open, secure and transparent ecosystems, where data sets and services comply with a minimum set of common rules, thus allowing them to be reusable under environments of trust and transparency. In turn, this enables the creation of reliable, high-quality data ecosystems, with which European organisations will be able to drive their digitisation process, enhancing value chains across different industrial sectors. These value chains, digitally deployed on federated and trusted cloud environments ("Trusted Cloud"), are traceable and transparent, and thus serve to drive regulatory compliance and digital sovereignty efforts.

In short, this approach is based on building on and reinforcing values reflected in a developing regulatory framework that seeks to embed concepts such as trust and governance in data environments. This seeks to make the EU a leader in a society and economy where digitalisation is a vector for re-industrialisation and prosperity, but always within the framework of our defining values.

The full programme of the Summit is available on the official website of the European association: https://gaia-x.eu/summit-2023/agenda/.

On November 9, Valencia will host the DataBeersVLC no29 event, jointly organized by the DataBeersVLC collective and the Open Government area of the Valencia City Council, which can also be followed live on the Internet. The program includes four talks on data, three of which will focus on open data. 

DataBeers is a non-profit initiative that is present all over the world. This organization aims to create a worldwide community of data lovers and for this purpose organizes events open to the general public, where they share the most advanced results and methods in Data Science in an understandable way in an informal environment. DataBeers was born in Madrid in 2014 but has already spread around the world and is currently present in 25 cities in different countries. 

In Spain it has presence in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga o Valencia, among other locations. In the latter, the DataBeersVLC community that was born in 2016, organizes the fourth edition of AI & Dataviz on November 9 at 19:00h at the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Octubre. In line with its goal of bringing data closer to all types of audiences, the meeting will be streamed live through its Youtube channel. In addition, all talks will be recorded and can be viewed later through the same medium. 

Open data in the fight against climate change, the improvement of tourism and agriculture

The day's program includes four talks. As usual in DataBeers events, the talks will be short, around ten minutes, in a language that can be understood by all kinds of audiences. The relaxed atmosphere created and the didactic tone of the speakers make it possible to bring the world of data closer to the attendees. 

On this occasion, the first talk will deal with 'Air quality in Valencia' and will be given by Inmaculada Coma, professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Valencia and director of the Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Information Visualization of this academic institution. 

This talk will present the data from the different monitoring network stations of the city of Valencia that are available in tne open data portal of the City Council and will review the evolution of pollution in the city thanks to the analysis and visualization of this information. This is an example of how open data can help to raise public awareness in a context of climate change and energy transition.

Another of the topics to be addressed at this meeting is tourism, where open data is playing a key role in the sector's transition towards sustainability and digitalization. Laya Targa, data scientist, will present a 'Visualization and optimization of tourist routes in the city of Valencia'. Targa is a member of the Data Interaction and Augmentation Research Group (DINA) and a technician in the ClioViz project at the Institute of Robotics and Information and Communication Technologies (IRTIC) at the University of Valencia. The talk will address some of the innovative data-driven strategies that serve to improve the planning and enjoyment of routes through different monuments in the city. It will explore visualization techniques and demonstrate how routes can be optimized thanks to data and achieve a better experience for tourists that is at the same time respectful of the city and its inhabitants. 

Ferran Fernandez will address a talk on data farming, specifically on 'Saving water with predictive irrigation models'. Fernandez, a specialist in AgTech, will start from the fact that agriculture consumes the largest amount of fresh water in the world, with emphasis on the increasingly frequent episodes of extreme droughts. Thus, he will delve into the need to establish strategies that enable more efficient, sustainable and profitable agriculture. 

In this area, we cannot forget that the digital transformation is enabling the agricultural sector to modernize and move towards what is known as precision agriculture. In this process, data is a fundamental tool for farmers to know exactly what is happening in their crops and to be able to make more efficient decisions in terms of production and more environmentally sustainable. Water resource management is a key part of this process and this talk will explore in depth the new possibilities that open data offers in this area. 

In addition to the applications of open data in different sectors, during the conference Ricard Martínez, director of the Microsoft Chair of Privacy and Digital Transformation at the University of Valencia, will talk about data protection, a topic that usually arouses great interest among citizens. In the era of artificial intelligence that we are beginning, privacy is one of the main concerns and for this, it is necessary to maintain the balance between open access to information and the protection of personal data to ensure the privacy of individuals. The talk will discuss how to protect them from the design and traceability, fleeing from radical solutions such as prohibiting the processing of data. 

In short, the program of the fourth edition of AI & Dataviz organized by DataBeersVLC will show the use of open data in areas with a direct and very visible impact on society. The dissemination of the use of open data is essential to promote trust in data and digital infrastructures, as well as to raise public awareness of some of the challenges we face today, such as climate change. 

To attend the event in person, all you need to do is register here. It is also possible to follow the live webcast by connecting to the DataBeersVLC channel on YouTube. 

On September 14th, the II National Open Data Meeting took place under the theme "Urgent Call to Action for the Environment" at the Pignatelli building, the headquarters of the Government of Zaragoza. The event, held in person in the Crown Room, allowed attendees to participate and exchange ideas in real-time.

The event continued the tradition started in 2022 in Barcelona, establishing itself as one of the main gatherings in Spain in the field of public sector data reuse. María Ángeles Rincón, Director-General of Electronic Administration and Corporate Applications of the Government of Aragon, inaugurated the event, emphasizing the importance of open data in terms of transparency, reuse, economic development, and social development. She highlighted that high-quality and neutral data available on open data portals are crucial for driving artificial intelligence and understanding our environmental surroundings.

The day continued with a presentation by María Jesús Fernández Ruiz, Head of the Technical Office of Open Government of the City of Zaragoza, titled "Why Implement Data Governance in Our Institutions?" In her presentation, she stressed the need to manage data as a strategic asset and a public good, integrating them into governance and management policies. She also emphasized the importance of interoperability and the reuse of large volumes of data to turn them into knowledge, as well as the formation of interdisciplinary teams for data management and analysis.

The event included three panel discussions with the participation of professionals, experts, and scientists related to the management, publication, and use of open data, focusing on environmental data.

The first panel discussion highlighted the value of open data for understanding the environment we live in. In this video, you can revisit the panel discussion moderated by Borja Carvajal of the Diputación de Castellón: II National Open Data Meeting, Zaragoza, September 14, 2023 (morning session).

Secondly, Magda Lorente from the Diputación de Barcelona moderated the discussion "Open Data, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence: How to Combat Environmental Disinformation?" This second panel featured professionals from data journalism, science, and the public sector who discussed the opportunities and challenges of disseminating environmental information through open data.

Conclusions from Challenges 1 and 2 on Open Data: Interadministrative Collaboration and Professional Competencies

After the second panel discussion, the conclusions of Challenges 1 and 2 on open data were presented, two lines of work defined at the I National Open Data Meeting held in 2022.

In last year's conference, several challenges were identified in the field of open data. The first of them (Challenge 1) involved promoting collaboration between administrations to facilitate the opening of data sets and generate valuable exchanges for both parties. To address this challenge, annual work was carried out to establish the appropriate lines of action.

You can download the document summarizing the conclusions of Challenge 1 here: https://opendata.aragon.es/documents/90029301/115623550/Reto_1_encuentro_datos_Reto_1.pptx

On the other hand, Challenge 2 aimed to identify the need to define professional roles, as well as essential knowledge and competencies that public employees who take on tasks related to data opening should have.

To address this second challenge, a working group of professionals with expertise in the sector was also established, all pursuing the same goal: to promote the dissemination of open data and thus improve public policies by involving citizens and businesses throughout the opening process.

To resolve the key issues raised, the group addressed two related lines of work:

1. Defining competencies and basic knowledge in the field of open data for different public professional profiles involved in data opening and use.
2. Identifying and compiling existing training materials and pathways to provide workers with a starting point.

Key Professional Competencies for Data Opening

To specify the set of actions and attitudes that a worker should have to complete their work with open data, it was considered necessary to identify the main profiles in the administration needed, as well as the specific needs of each position. In this regard, the working group has based its analysis on the following roles:

• Open Data Manager role: responsible for technical leadership in promoting open data policies, data policy definition, and data model activities.
• Technical role in data opening (IT profile): encourages execution activities more related to system management, data extraction processes, data cleaning, etc., among others.
• Functional role in data opening (service technician): carries out execution activities more related to selecting data to be published, quality, promotion of open data, visualization, data analytics, for example.
• Use of data by public workers: performs activities involving data use for decision-making, basic data analytics, among others. Analyzing the functions of each of these roles, the team has established the necessary competencies and knowledge for performing the functions defined in each of these roles.

You can download the document with conclusions about professional capabilities for data opening here: https://opendata.aragon.es/documents/90029301/115623550/reto+2_+trabajadores+p%C3%BAblicos+capacitados+para+el+uso+y+la+apertura+de+datos.docx

Training Materials and Pathways on Open Data

In line with the second line of work, the team of professionals has developed an inventory of online training resources in the field of open data, which can be accessed for free. This list includes courses and materials in Spanish, co-official languages, and English, covering topics such as open data, their processing, analysis, and application.

You can download the document listing training materials, the result of the work of Challenge 2's group, here: [https://opendata.aragon.es/datos/catalogo/dataset/listado-de-materiales-formativos-sobre-datos-abiertos-fruto-del-trabajo-del-grupo-del-reto-2

In conclusion, the working group considered that the progress made during this first year marks a solid start, which will serve as a basis for administrations to design training and development plans aimed at the different roles involved in data opening. This, in turn, will contribute to strengthening and improving data policies in these entities.

Furthermore, it was noted that the effort invested in these months to identify training resources will be key in facilitating the acquisition of essential knowledge by public workers. On the other hand, it has been highlighted that there is a large number of free and open training resources with a basic level of specialization. However, the need to develop more advanced materials to train the professionals that the administration needs today has been identified.

The third panel discussion, moderated by Vicente Rubio from the Diputación de Castellón, focused on public policies based on data to improve the living environment of its inhabitants.

At the end of the meeting, it was emphasized how important it is to continue working on and shaping different challenges related to the functions and services of open data portals and data opening processes. In the III National Open Data Meeting to be held next year in the Province of Castellón, progress in this area will be presented.

Sign up for SEMIC 2023 and discover the interoperable Europe in the era of artificial intelligence. According to the forecasts of the European Commission, by 2025, the global volume of data will have increased by 530%, and in this context, it is crucial to ensure data interoperability and reuse. Thus, the European Union is working on creating a digital model that promotes data sharing while ensuring people's privacy and data interoperability.

The European Data Strategy includes the launch of common and interoperable data spaces in strategic sectors. In this context, various initiatives have emerged to discuss the processes, standards, and tools suitable for data management and exchange, which also serve to promote a culture of information and reuse. One of these initiatives is SEMIC, the most important interoperability conference in Europe, whose 2023 edition will take place on October 18th in Madrid, organized by the European Commission in collaboration with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

SEMIC 2023, which can also be attended virtually, focuses on 'Interoperable Europe in the AI era.' The sessions will address data spaces, digital governance, data quality assurance, generative artificial intelligence, and code as law, among other aspects. Information about the proposal for an Interoperable Europe Law will also be presented.

Pre-Workshops

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about specific use cases where public sector interoperability and artificial intelligence have mutually benefited. Although SEMIC 2023 will take place on October 18th, the day before, three interesting workshops will also be held, which can be attended both in-person and virtually:

• Artificial Intelligence in Policy Design for the Digital Age and in Legal Text Writing: This workshop will explore how AI-driven tools can assist policymakers in public policy formulation. Different tools, such as the Policy Analysis Prototype (SeTA) or intelligent functionalities for legal drafting (LEOS), will be discussed.
• Large Language Models in Support of Interoperability: This session will explore the methods and approaches proposed for using large language models and AI technology in the context of semantic interoperability. It will focus on the state of LLM and its application to semantic clustering, data discovery, and terminology expansion, among other applications supporting semantic interoperability.
• European Register of Public Sector Semantic Models: This workshop will define actions to create an entry point for connecting national collections of semantic assets.

Interactions Between Artificial Intelligence, Interoperability, and Semantics

The main SEMIC 2023 conference program includes roundtable discussions and various working sessions that will run in parallel. The first session will address Estonia's experience as one of the first European countries to implement AI in the public sector and its pioneering role in interoperability.

In the morning, an interesting roundtable will be held on the potential of artificial intelligence to support interoperability. Speakers from different EU Member States will present success stories and challenges related to deploying AI in the public sector.

In the second half of the morning, three parallel sessions will take place:

• Crafting Policies for the Digital Age and Code as Law: This session will identify the main challenges and opportunities in the field of AI and interoperability, focusing on 'code as law' as a paradigm. Special attention will be given to semantic annotation in legislation.
• Interconnecting Data Spaces: This session will address the main challenges and opportunities in the development of data spaces, with a special focus on interoperability solutions. It will also discuss synergies between the Data Spaces Support Center (DSSC) and the European Commission's DIGIT specifications and tools.
• Automated Public Services: This session will provide an approach to automating access to public services with the help of AI and chatbots.

In the afternoon, three more parallel sessions will be held:

• Knowledge Graphs, Semantics, and AI: This session will demonstrate how traditional semantics benefit from AI.
• Data Quality in Generative and General-Purpose AI: This session will review the main data quality issues in the EU and discuss strategies to overcome them.
• Trustworthy AI for Public Sector Interoperability: This session will discuss the opportunities for using AI for interoperability in the public sector and the transparency and reliability challenges of AI systems.

In the afternoon, there will also be a roundtable discussion on the upcoming challenges, addressing the technological, social, and political implications of advances in AI and interoperability from the perspective of policy actions. Following this panel, the closing sessions will take place.

The previous edition, held in Brussels, brought together over 1,000 professionals from 60 countries, both in-person and virtually. Therefore, SEMIC 2023 presents an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest trends in interoperability in the era of artificial intelligence.

You can register here: https://semic2023.eu/registration/

On September 11^th, a webinar was held to review Gaia-X, from its foundations, embodied by its architecture and trust model called Trust Framework, to the Federation Services that aim to facilitate and speed up access to the infrastructure, to the catalogue of services that some users (providers) will be able to make available to others (consumers).

The webinar, led by the manager of the Spanish Gaia-X Hub, was led by two experts from the Data Office, who guided the audience through their presentations towards a better understanding of the Gaia-X initiative. At the end of the session, there was a dynamic question and answer session to go into more detail. A recording of this seminar can be accessed from the Hub's official website,[Forging the Future of Federated Data Spaces in Europe | Gaia-X (gaiax.es)]

Gaia-X as a key building block for forging European Data Spaces

Gaia-X emerges as an innovative paradigm to facilitate the integration of IT resources. Based on Web 3.0 technology models, the identification and traceability of different data resources is enabled, from data sets, algorithms, different semantic or other conceptual models, to even underlying technology infrastructure (cloud resources). This serves to make the origin and functioning of these entities visible, thus facilitating transparency and compliance with European regulations and values.

From September 25^th to 27^th , Madrid will be hosting the fourth edition of the Open Science Fair, an international event on open science that will bring together experts from all over the world with the aim of identifying common practices, bringing positions closer together and, in short, improving synergies between the different communities and services working in this field. 

This event is an initiative of OpenAIRE, an organisation that aims to create more open and transparent academic communication. This edition of the Open Science Fair is co-organised by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), which depends on the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and is one of the events sponsored by the Spanish Presidency of the spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. 

The current state of open science

Science is no longer the preserve of scientists. Researchers, institutions, funding agencies and scientific publishers are part of an ecosystem that carries out work with a growing resonance with the public and a greater impact on society. In addition, it is becoming increasingly common for research groups to open up to collaborations with institutions around the world. Key to making this collaboration possible is the availability of data that is open and available for reuse in research.

However, to enable international and interdisciplinary research to move forward, it is necessary to ensure interoperability between communities and services, while maintaining the capacity to support different workflows and knowledge systems. 

The objectives and programme of the Open Science Fair

In this context, the Open Science Fair 2023 is being held, with the aim of bringing together and empowering open science communities and services, identifying common practices related to open science to analyse the most suitable synergies and, ultimately sharing experiences that are developed in different parts of the world. 

The event has an interesting programme that includes keynote speeches from relevant speakers, round tables, workshops, and training sessions, as well as a demonstration session. Attendees will be able to share experiences and exchange views, which will help define the most efficient ways for communities to work together and draw up tailor-made roadmaps for the implementation of open science. 

This third edition of Open Science will focus on 'Open Science for Future Generations' and the main themes it will address, as highlighted on the the event's website, are:

• Progress and reform of research evaluation and open science. Connections, barriers and the way forward.
• Impact of artificial intelligence on open science and impact of open science on artificial intelligence.
• Innovation and disruption in academic publishing.
• Fair data, software and hardware.
• Openness in research and education.
• Public engagement and citizen science.

Open science and artificial intelligence 

The artificial intelligence is gaining momentum in academia through data analysis. By analysing large amounts of data, researchers can identify patterns and correlations that would be difficult to reach through other methods. The use of open data in open science opens up an exciting and promising future, but it is important to ensure that the benefits of artificial intelligence are available to all in a fair and equitable way. 

Given its high relevance, the Open Science Fair will host two keynote lectures and a panel discussion on 'AI with and for open science'. The combination of the benefits of open data and artificial intelligence is one of the areas with the greatest potential for significant scientific breakthroughs and, as such, will have its place at the event is one of the areas with the greatest potential for significant scientific breakthroughs and, as such, will have its place at the event. It will look from three perspectives (ethics, infrastructure and algorithms) at how artificial intelligence supports researchers and what the key ingredients are for open infrastructures to make this happen. 

The programme of the Open Science Fair 2023 also includes the presentation of a demo of a tool for mapping the research activities of the European University of Technology EUt+ by leveraging open data and natural language processing. This project includes the development of a set of data-driven tools. Demo attendees will be able to see the developed platform that integrates data from public repositories, such as European research and innovation projects from CORDIS, patents from the European Patent Office database and scientific publications from OpenAIRE. National and regional project data have also been collected from different repositories, processed and made publicly available. 

These are just some of the events that will take place within the Open Science Fair, but the full programme includes a wide range of events to explore multidisciplinary knowledge and research evaluation. 

Although registration for the event is now closed, you can keep up to date with all the latest news through the hashtag #OSFAIR2023 on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as on the event's website website. 

In addition, on the website of datos.gob.es and on our social networks you can keep up to date on the most important events in the field of open data, such as those that will take place during this autumn.

Mark them on your calendar, make a note in your agenda, or set reminders on your mobile to not forget about this list of events on data and open government taking place this autumn. This time of year brings plenty of opportunities to learn about technological innovation and discuss the transformative power of open data in society. 

From practical workshops to congresses and keynote speeches, in this post, we present some of the standout events happening in October and November. Sign up before the slots fill up!

Data spaces in the EU: synergies between data protection and data spaces

At the beginning of the tenth month of the year, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) and the European Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) will hold an event in English to address the challenges and opportunities of implementing the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in EU data spaces.

During the conference, the conference will review best practices of existing EU data spaces, analyse the interaction between EU legislation and policies on data exchange and present data protection engineering as an integral element in the structure of data spaces, as well as its legal implications.

• Who is it aimed at? This event promises to be a platform for knowledge and collaboration of interest to anyone interested in the future of data in the region.
• When and where is it? On October 2^nd in Madrid from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM and available for streaming with prior registration until 2:45 PM.
• Registration: link no longer available 

SEMIC Conference 'Interoperable Europe in the age of AI'

Also in October, the annual SEMIC conference organised by the European Commission in collaboration with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union returns. This year's event takes place in Madrid and will explore how interoperability in the public sector and artificial intelligence can benefit each other through concrete use cases and successful projects.

Sessions will address the latest trends in data spaces, digital governance, data quality assurance and generative artificial intelligence, among others. In addition, a proposal for an Interoperable Europe Act will be presented.

• Who is it aimed at? Public or private sector professionals working with data, governance and/or technology. Last year's edition attracted more than 1,000 professionals from 60 countries.
• When and where is it? The conference will be held on October 18^th at the Hotel Riu Plaza in Madrid and can also be followed online. Pre-conference workshops will take place on October 17^th at the National Institute of Public Administration
• Registration: https://semic2023.eu/registration/

Aragón Open Data, the open data portal of the Government of Aragón, will present its most recent work on 15 March 2023 to present its lines of action and progress in the field of open data and linked data.

What does 'Aragón Open Data: Open and connect data' consist of?

In this meeting, which is part of the events framed in the Open Data Days 2023, Aragón Open Data will take the opportunity to talk about the evolution of its open data platform and the improvement of the quality of the data offered.

In this line, the conference 'Aragón Open Data: Open and connect data' will also focus on detailing the functioning of Aragopedia, its new linked data strategy.

Through a series of technical explanations, supported by a demo, attendees will learn how this service works, based on the new structure of Interoperable Information of Aragon (EI2A) that allows sharing, connecting and relating certain data available on the Aragon Open Data portal.

In order to detail as precisely as possible, the approach of the conference, we share the programme below:

• Welcome to the conference. Julián Moyano, coordinator of Aragón Open Data.
• Introduction to Aragón Open Data (Marc Garriga, Desidedatum)
• Improving the quality of the data and its semantisation (Koldo Z. / Susana G.)
• Previous situation and current situation
• New navigation focused on Aragón Open Data and Aragopedia data (Pedro M. / Beni)
• Explanation and Demo
• My experience with Aragopedia (Sofía Arguís, Documentalist and user of Aragón Open Data )
• Process of identification, processing and opening of new data (Cristina C.)
• Starting point and challenges encountered to achieve openness.
• Conclusions (Marc Garriga)
• Question/Comment Time

Where and when is it being held?

The technical conference 'Aragón Open Data: Open and connect data' will be held on 15 March from 12:00 to 13:30 online. Therefore, in order to attend it, interested users must fill in the form available at the following point.

How can I register?

To attend and access the online session you can fill in the following form and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to write to us at opendata@aragon.es.

Aragón Open Data is co-financed by the European Union, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) "Building Europe from Aragon.

The University of Salamanca (USAL) hosted the symposium "Justice and Law in Data: The role of Data as a change enabler and driver for the transformation of Justice and Law". The meeting was organised by the University itself, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, with the aim of reflecting on data as a public good.

The first day had an institutional and academic character, with keynote lectures by experts in law and competitiveness in the country.

Opening of the event

The symposium was inaugurated by Fernando Carbajo Cascón, Dean of the Faculty of Law, María Encarnación Pérez Álvarez, Deputy Delegate of the Government in Salamanca, Federico Bueno de Mata, Academic Director of the symposium and Fabiola Solino, Head of the Support Unit of the Directorate General of Digital Transformation of the Ministry of Justice. Fabiola Solino began by highlighting how "data is a fundamental resource in all current societies and plays an essential role in the way in which public services are administered, to the point of being at the centre of any public agenda with a transformative vocation". She also highlighted how the conference would show the willingness of administrations, academia and private sector to "promote data and the application of new techniques such as robotisation and artificial intelligence in order to offer citizens a closer, more transparent, innovative and efficient public service". All of this with an inclusive and sustainable approach.

Federico Bueno de Mata highlighted three key elements of the conference: modernity, humanism - since behind the data there are people - and knowledge transfer between the different agents of public administrations, academia and companies. María Encarnación Pérez Álvarez highlighted the importance of addressing digital advances to guarantee the sustainability of the system, paying special attention to security and the guarantee of fundamental rights. Finally, Fernando Carbajo Cascón focused on the importance of data for the functioning of society and the economy: "a responsible and transparent policy of generation, transfer and access to data is fundamental for the creation, dissemination and access to knowledge, for the development of dynamic innovation for the benefit of society and the better provision of public services". In his speech, he highlighted the importance of data for the development of public policies, decision-making by public and private agents, and as a driver of solutions -many linked to artificial intelligence- that help legal operators to carry out their work in a more transparent, simple and agile way.

After the inauguration, there were several keynote speeches, focusing on the situation of justice and data in Spain, Big Data, artificial intelligence and the digitisation of justice, among other issues.

Manuel Olmedo Palacios, Secretary General for Innovation and Quality of the Public Justice Service, addressed data within the context of co-governance in the field of Justice, a system that represents a positive experience for the Ministry, insofar as it facilitates a dialogue-based ecosystem for the provision of the public service of Justice in Spain, where decisions can be taken with greater accuracy and in which one can learn from the experiences of others. He explained that the plurality of decision-making actors within the justice ecosystem is a strength for coordinated decision-making, and it is in this context that data must be managed. The need for a correct management of data is raised, without ceasing to pursue the placement and situation of the person, the citizen, at the centre of all justice policies as the only way to reduce the gaps and protect their fundamental rights in the best way possible.

The Data Manifesto, a document drawn up within the State Technical Committee for e-Justice Administration, was also discussed, where the need to reinforce the importance of data in the process of digital transformation of justice is raised. Tontxu Rodríguez Esquerdo, Secretary of State for Justice, officially presented the Data Manifesto, explaining the relevance of this document aimed at identifying the principles on which to build a public data space for the Justice sector: to define, generate, maintain, preserve, guarantee and respect the principles that must govern the processing of public data related to the activity of Justice. He also informed that access to the data by citizens and other public and private political actors is now a right, which implies the possibility of demanding from the body responsible for the elaboration and dissemination of the data as part of its activities.

Open data in the justice sector

In the afternoon, the session focused on "Open Data, AI and the Administration of Justice", first from the perspective of Constitutional Law and Administrative Law, and then from the perspective of Procedural Law.

Various speakers talked about the guarantees of rights in the framework of open data and the protection of personal data. The governance of artificial intelligence in the public legal sphere was also addressed, highlighting the importance of looking at the risks associated with three elements: the input data, what the system does with it and the output decision. To provide greater safeguards, there is a need to develop risk reviews and promote transparency. The need to have specific rules for the use of AI in the sector, to always work with human supervision and to respect fundamental rights, including procedural rights such as effective judicial protection or the presumption of innocence, was also highlighted.

Another issue highlighted was the need for data management professionals who are aware of the importance of data. These professionals must be aware of the relevance that each piece of data may have not only individually, but also when combined with other data. Furthermore, they must take into account the nature of each piece of data, especially in those areas, such as the university, where information of a different nature coexists, such as academic, health, economic data, etc.

Examples of use cases

Examples of open data reuse in the legal sector were then presented in several parallel rooms. Examples are:

• The National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences spoke about digital transformation in forensic medicine and the work they carry out in the area of data-driven justice and prevention. To this end, they use tools that allow combined analysis from multiple data sources, as well as the visualisation and comprehensive exploration of data in an interactive and simple way, facilitating the creation of collaborative content in which different working groups participate. An example of its data processing work is the report on "Technological findings in traffic accident fatalities", which brings together data from different laboratories, the results of which can also be viewed on the "Justice in data" portal.

• Representatives of the Autonomous University of Madrid commented on how since 2015 they have been analysing judgments (more than 2,000 per year) from various bodies: the contentious-administrative courts, the High Courts of Justice, the National High Court and the Supreme Court. Through the analysis of this data, they try to answer questions such as at what territorial level of the administration litigiousness is concentrated, what factors influence the estimation of appeals or whether there are territorial differences in management. Thanks to these data, the aim is to improve three facets: regulatory quality, administrative activity and the jurisdictional function.

• From the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) they spoke about the application of artificial intelligence and georeferencing, using the cadastre and the land registry, to carry out municipal genealogies, to generate a correspondence of names and surnames and to be able to more easily resolve disputes related to these matters.

• The representative of the Universitat de Barcelona-Universitat de Girona talk about AI and predictive justice, focusing on the incorporation of the future behaviour of the accused as a parameter to be considered in decision-making related to the penal system through risk assessment. One example is the RisCanvi protocol, used by the Catalan Department of Justice to assess the risk of recidivism based on a series of parameters (economic capacity, beliefs, family support, etc.). In the US, in Pennsylvania, they go a step further and apply algorithms to determine the sentences to be served. The risk lies in preventing this type of solution from being discriminatory and in the importance of being transparent.

• The massive analysis of data and Artificial Intelligence to improve the control and audit of public procurement was another of the topics discussed, in this case by the representative of the University of Oviedo and NTT Data. Through the analysis of data from the Public Sector Procurement Platform and the Commercial Register, together with data from the European platform TED Tender, a search engine/recommender of companies for tenders has been created, as well as a software application to detect irregular tenders, among others.

Other talks were focused on the automation of robotic processes (RPA) to improve the efficiency of justice in tasks such as the return of economic income, the need to improve interoperability and the importance of transparency and good information management to promote competitive bidding in electronic judicial auctions.

Sharing experiences

The second day focused on sharing experiences from the public and private sector in the legal field related to data, including international experiences.

There were also parallel rooms where the ethical use of AI, the importance of universal interoperability in Justice, the use of biometric systems in Justice or the application of Machine learning for judicial notifications were discussed.

All the presentations, both those held in the auditorium and in the parallel rooms, are available through the Youtube channel of the University of Salamanca.

In short, during the two days, the willingness of all members of the legal sector, including public administrations, private organisations and academic centres, to promote the transformation of the sector, implementing innovations to improve effectiveness and efficiency, was evident. A task for which it is necessary to have quality open data that shows the reality of the sector, respecting all legal guarantees.

Open data publishers and reusers have an appointment on May 18 and 19. That is the date chosen by the Ministry of Participation, Transparency, Cooperation and Democratic Quality for the celebration of the International Congress on Open Data and Transparency, promoted through the Observatori Valencià de Dades Obertes i Transparència, together with the University of Alicante, Open Knowledge Foundation and Datause.

What is the agenda?

The event is focused on the past, present and future of open data and its role in solving challenges in fields as important as the environment or the food crisis, among others. Around thirty professionals and experts will participate, linked to data management, activism and communication, both nationally and internationally.

The conference will begin on the 18th at 10.00 and will include the following topics:

May 18:

• Agriculture challenges. The role of open data in driving sustainability, competition and the circular economy will be addressed.
• Experiences of using open data. Practical cases will be shown where open data has played a prominent role.
• Reflections on the use of open data. It consists of a debate between two expert activists in transparency, Renata Ávila (Executive Director of the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) and Miguel Ongil (Founder of #Cuentasclaras).

May 19:

• Retrospective What has happened to date with access to information and open data? This debate will include the participation of the Aporta Initiative, whose representative will tell how the open data ecosystem has evolved and what is the role of datos.gob.es in it.
• The present of the data. This session will review the current situation in the opening and reuse of data.
• From Data to AI. Future trends and the role of open data as a driver of disruptive technologies will be shown.

You can see the full schedule here.

Where is it celebrated? 

The congress can be followed both in person and online. For those who want to attend in person and take advantage of the networking experience, the event will be held in the Blue Cube Auditorium of the Polytechnic City of Innovation at the UPV (third floor of building 8B).

You can also follow online way through YouTube.

Is registration necessary?

Yes. Although access is free, it is necessary to register in advance through this link. In the registration form you must indicate if you will attend in person or remotely.

You have all the information of the event in this link.

If you want to be up to date with all the news from the Department of Participation, Transparency, Cooperation and Democratic Quality of the Generalitat of Valencia, at datos.gob.es we invite you to follow its schedule, as well as his news and novelties section.