sector infomediario

Data reuse continues to grow in Spain, as confirmed by the last report of the Multisectorial Association of Information (ASEDIE), which analyses and describes the situation of the infomediary sector in the country. The document, now in its 13th edition, was presented last Friday, 4 April, at an event highlighting the rise of the data economy in the current landscape.

The following are the main key points of the report.

An overall profit of 146 million euros in 2023

Since 2013, ASEDIE's Infomediary sector report has been continuously monitoring this sector, made up of companies and organisations that reuse data - generally from the public sector, but also from private sources - to generate value-added products or services.  Under the title "Data Economy in its infomediary scope", this year's report underlines the importance of public-private partnerships in driving the data economy and presents relevant data on the current state of the sector.

It should be noted that the financial information used for sales and employees corresponds to the financial year 2023, as financial information for the year 2024 was not yet available at the time of reporting. The main conclusions are:

• Since the first edition of the report, the number of infomediaries identified has risen from 444 to 757, an increase of 70%. This growth reflects its dynamism, with annual peaks and troughs, showing a positive evolution that consolidates its recovery after the pandemic, although there is still room for development.
• The sector is present in all the country's Autonomous Communities, including the Autonomous City of Melilla. The Community of Madrid leads the ranking with 38% of infomediaries, followed by Catalonia, Andalusia and the Community of Valencia, which represent 15%, 11% and 9%, respectively. The remaining 27% is distributed among the other autonomous communities.
• 75% of infomediary companies operate in the sub-sectors of geographic information, market, economic and financial studies, and infomediation informatics (focused on the development of technological solutions for the management, analysis, processing and visualisation of data).
• The infomediary sector shows a growth and consolidation trend, with 66% of companies operating for less than 20 years. Of this group, 32% are between 11 and 20 years old, while 34% are less than a decade old. Furthermore, the increase in companies between 11 and 40 years old indicates that more companies have managed to sustain themselves over time.
• In terms of sales, the estimated volume amounts to 2,646 million euros and the evolution of average sales increases by 10.4%.  The average turnover per company is over 4.4 million euros, while the median is 442,000 euros. Compared to the previous year, the average has increased by 200,000 euros, while the median has decreased by 30,000 euros.
• It is estimated that the infomediary sector employs some 24,620 people, 64% of whom are concentrated in three sub-sectors. These figures represent a growth of 6% over the previous year. Although the overall average is 39 employees per company, the median per sub-sector is no more than 6, indicating that much of the employment is concentrated in a small number of large companies. The average turnover per employee was 108,000 euros this year, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year.
• The subscribed capital of the sector amounts to EUR 252 million. This represents an increase of 6%, which breaks the negative trend of recent years.
• 74% of the companies have reported profits. The aggregate net profit of the 539 companies for which data is available exceeded 145 million euros.

The following visual summarises some of this data:

Figure 1. Source: Asedie Infomediary Sector Report. "Data Economy in its infomediary scope" (2025).

Significant advances in the ASEDIE Top 10

The Asedie Top 10 aims to identify and promote the openness of selected datasets for reuse. This initiative seeks to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors, facilitating access to information that can generate significant economic and social benefits. Its development has taken place in three phases, each focusing on different datasets, the evolution of which has been analysed in this report:.

• Phase 1 (2019), which promoted the opening of databases of associations, cooperatives and foundations. Currently, 16 Autonomous Communities allow access to the three databases and 11 already offer NIF data.  There is a lack of access to cooperatives in a community.
• Phase 2 (2020), focusing on datasets related to energy efficiency certificates, SAT registers and industrial estates. All communities have made energy efficiency data available to citizens, but one is missing in industrial parks and three in SAT registers.
• Phase 3 (2023), focusing on datasets of economic agents, education centres, health centres and ERES-ERTES (Expediente de Regulación de Empleo y Expediente de Regulación Temporal de Empleo). Progress has been made compared to last year, but work is ongoing to achieve greater uniformity of information.

New success stories and best practices

The report concludes with a section compiling several success stories of products and services developed with public information and contributing to the growth of our economy, for example:

• Energy Efficiency Improvement Calculator: allows to identify the necessary interventions and estimate the associated costs and the impact on the energy efficiency certification (EEC).
• GEOPUBLIC: is a tool designed to help Public Administrations better understand their territory. It allows for an analysis of strengths, opportunities and challenges in comparison with other similar regions, provinces or municipalities. Thanks to its ability to segment business and socio-demographic data at different scales, it facilitates the monitoring of the life cycle of enterprises and their influence on the local economy.
• New website of the DBK sectoral observatory: improves the search for sectoral information, thanks to the continuous monitoring of some 600 Spanish and Portuguese sectors. Every year it publishes more than 300 in-depth reports and 1,000 sectoral information sheets.
• Data assignment and repair service: facilitates the updating of information on the customers of electricity retailers by allowing this information to be enriched with the cadastral reference associated with the supply point. This complies with a requirement of the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT).

The report also includes good practices of public administrations such as:

• The Callejero Digital de Andalucía Unificado (CDAU), which centralises, standardises and keeps the region's geographical and postal data up to date.
• The Geoportal of the Madrid City Council, which integrates metadata, OGC map services, a map viewer and a geolocator that respect the INSPIRE and LISIGE directives. It is easy to use for both professionals and citizens thanks to its intuitive and accessible interface.
• The Canary Statistics Institute (ISTAC), which has made an innovative technological ecosystem available to society. It features eDatos, an open source infrastructure for statistical data management ensuring transparency and interoperability.
• The Spanish National Forest Inventory (IFN) and its web application Download IFN, a basic resource for forest management, research and education. Allows easy filtering of plots for downloading.
• The Statistical Interoperability Node, which provides legal, organisational, semantic and technical coverage for the integration of the different information systems of the different levels of administrative management.
• The Open Cohesion School, an innovative educational programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya aimed at secondary school students. Students investigate publicly funded projects to analyse their impact, while developing digital skills, critical thinking and civic engagement.
• The National Publicity System for Public Subsidies and Grants, which has unveiled a completely redesigned website. It has improved its functionality with API-REST queries and downloads. More information here.

In conclusion, the infomediary sector in Spain consolidifies itself as a key driver for the economy, showing a solid evolution and steady growth. With a record number of companies and a turnover exceeding 2.6 billion euros in 2023, the sector not only generates employment, but also positions itself as a benchmark for innovation. Information as a strategic resource drives a more efficient and connected economic future. Its proper use, always from an ethical perspective, promises to continue to be a source of progress both nationally and internationally.

The Multisectoral Information Partnership (ASEDIE) has published the twelfth edition of its "Report on the Infomediary Sector", that reviews the initiatives to boost the data economy in the country. In addition, this edition commemorates the 25th anniversary of the association in the sector.

In the 12th Report on the Data Economy in the infomediary sphere, ASEDIE provides accurate figures on the sector in Spain to continue its annual work of highlighting and conveying its size and importance. The presentation of this edition took place at Madrid International Lab's auditorium on 20 March.

The main findings of the study are summarised below.

The Asociación Multisectorial de la Información (ASEDIE) has published the eleventh edition of its Report on the Infomediary Sector, in which it reviews the health of companies that generate applications, products and/or services based on information from the public sector, taking into account that it is the holder of the most valuable data.

Many of the datasets that enable the infomediary sector to develop solutions are included in the lists of High Value Datasets (HVDS) recently published by the European Union. An initiative that recognises the potential of public information and adds to the aim of boosting the data economy in line with the European Parliament's proposed Data Law.

ASEDIE brings together companies from different sectors that promote the data economy, which are mainly nourished by the data provided by the public sector. Among its objectives is to promote the sector and contribute to raising society's awareness of its benefits and impact. It is estimated that the data economy will generate €270 billion of additional GDP for EU Member States by 2028.

The presentation of this edition of the report, entitled 'The Data Economy in the infomediary field', took place on 22 March in Red.es's Enredadera room.  In this year's edition of the report, 710 active companies have been identified, with a turnover of more than 2,278 million euros. It should be noted that the first report in 2013 counted 444 companies. Therefore, the sector has grown by 60% in a decade.

Main conclusions of the report

• The infomediary sector has grown by 12.1%, a figure above the national GDP growth of 7.6%. These data are drawn from the analysis of the 472 companies (66% of the sample) that submitted their accounts for the previous years.
• The number of employees is 22,663. Workers are highly concentrated in a few companies: 62% of them have less than 10 workers. The subsector with the highest number of professionals is Geographic information, with 30% of the total. Together with the sub-sectors Financial economics, Technical consultancy and Market research, they account for 75% of the employees.
• Employment in the companies of the Infomediary Sector grew by 1.7%, compared to a fall of 1.1% in the previous year. All sub-sectors have grown, except for Tourism and Culture, which have remained the same, and Technical Consultancy and Market Research, which have decreased.
• The average turnover per employee exceeded 100,000 euros, an increase of 6.6% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the average expenditure per employee was 45,000 euros.
• The aggregate turnover was 2,279,613,288 euros. The Geographical Information and Economic and Financial subsectors account for 46% of sales.
• The aggregate subscribed capital is 250,115,989 euros. The three most capitalised subsectors are Market Research, Economic and Financial and Geographic Information, which account for 66% of capitalisation.
• The net result exceeds 180 million euros, 70 million more than last year. The Economic and Financial subsector accounted for 66% of total profits.
• The sub-sectors of Geographical Information, Market Research, Financial Economics and Computer Infomediaries account for 76% of the infomediary companies, with a total of 540 companies out of the 710 active companies.
• The Community of Madrid is home to the largest number of companies in the sector, with 39%, followed by Catalonia (13%), Andalusia (11%) and the Community of Valencia (9%).

As the report shows, the arrival of new companies is driving the development of a sector that already has a turnover of around 2,300 million euros per year, and which is growing at a higher rate than other macroeconomic indicators in the country. These data show not only that the Infomediary Sector is in good health, but also its resilience and growth potential.

Progress of the Study on the impact of open data in Spain

The report also includes the results of a survey of the different actors that make up the data ecosystem, in collaboration with the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. This survey is presented as the first exercise of a more ambitious study that aims to know the impact of open data in Spain and to identify the main barriers to its access and availability. To this end, a questionnaire has been sent to members of the public, private and academic sectors. Among the main conclusions of this first survey, we can highlight the following:

• As main barriers to publishing information, 65% of respondents from the public sector mentioned lack of human resources, 39% lack of political leadership and 38% poor data quality.
• The biggest obstacle in accessing public data for re-use is for public sector respondents that the information provided in the data is not homogeneous (41.9%). Respondents from the academic sector point to the lack of quality of the data (43%) and from the private sector it is believed that the main barrier is the lack of updating (49%).
• In terms of the frequency of use of public data, 63% of respondents say that they use the data every day or at least once a week.
• 61% of respondents use the data published on the datos.gob.es portal.
• Respondents overwhelmingly believe that the impact of data openness on the private sector is positive. Thus, 77% of private sector respondents indicate that accessing public data is economically viable and 89% of them say that public data enables them to develop useful solutions.
• 95% of respondents call for a compendium of regulations affecting the access, publication and re-use of public sector data.
• 27% of public sector respondents say they are not aware of the six categories of high-value data set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 20137138 .

This shows that most respondents are aware of the potential of the sector and the impact of public sector data, although they indicate that some obstacles to re-use need to be overcome and believe that a compendium of the different existing regulations would facilitate their implementation and help the development of the sector.

Top 3 ASEDIE

As in previous editions, the report includes the status of the Top 3 ASEDIE, an initiative that aims for all Autonomous Communities to fully open three sets of data, following unified criteria that facilitate their reuse, and which is included in the IV Open Government Plan. In 2019, the opening of the Cooperatives, Associations and Foundations databases was proposed, and there are currently 16 Autonomous Communities in which they can be accessed in full. Moreover, in eight of them, it is possible to access the NIF with a unique identifier, which improves transparency and makes the information more accurate.

Taking into account the good results of the first proposal, in 2020 a new request for opening data was launched, the Second Top 3 ASEDIE, in this case of Energy Efficiency Certificates, SAT Registries (Agricultural Transformation Companies) and Industrial Estates, whose evolution has also been very positive. The following map shows the opening situation of these three new databases in 2023.

The Top 3 ASEDIE initiative has been a success and has become a reference in the sector, promoting the opening of databases in a joint manner and demonstrating that it is possible to harmonise public data sources to put them at the service of society.

The next steps in this sense will be to monitor the databases already open and to disseminate them at all levels, including the identification of good practices of the Administration and the selection of examples to encourage public-private collaboration in open data. In addition, a new top 3 will be identified to advance in the opening of new databases, and a new initiative will be launched to reach the bodies of the General State Administration, with the identification of a new Top 3 AGE.

Success stories

The report also includes a series of success stories of products and services developed with public sector data, such as Iberinform's API Market, which facilitates access to and integration of 52 sets of company and self-employed data in company management systems. Another successful case is Geocode, a solution focused on standardisation, validation, correction, codification and geolocation processes for postal addresses in Spain and Portugal.

Geomarketing makes it possible to increase the speed of calculating geospatial data and Infoempresa.com has improved its activity reports on Spanish companies, making them more visual, complete and intuitive. Finally, Pyramid Data makes it possible to access the Energy Efficiency Certificates (EEC) of a given property portfolio.

As examples of good practices in the public sector, the ASEDIE report highlights the open statistical data as a driver of the Data Economy of the Canary Islands Statistics Institute (ISTAC) and the technology for the opening of data of the Open Data Portal of the Andalusian Regional Government (Junta de Andalucía).

As a novelty, the category of examples of good practices in the academic sector has been incorporated, which recognises the work carried out by the Geospatial Code and the Report on the state of open data in Spain III, by the Rey Juan Carlos University and FIWARE Foundation.

The 11th ASEDIE Report on the Data Economy in the infomediary field can be downloaded from the ASEDIE website in Spanish. The presentations of the economic indicators and the Top 3 and the Data Ecosystem are also available.

In summary, the report shows the good health of the industry that confirms its recovery after the pandemic, its resilience and growth potential and, in addition, the good results of public-private collaboration and its impact on the data economy are observed.

ASEDIE (the Multisectoral Information Association) has just published a new edition of its Infomediary Sector Report, which analyses the real, economic and social value of companies reusing data from the public and/or private sector to develop value-added products. The presentation took place at an event at the National Geographic Institute, in which the Data Office also participated.

This year is special because the report is in its 10th edition. Throughout these years, the different reports have shown the growth and consolidation of the sector.  Specifically, for this edition, 701 companies have been identified, which represents a growth of 58% compared to the first report, produced in 2013. However, the figure is very similar to that already analysed in 2021.

This year's edition is subtitled "Data Economy in the Infomediary". The data economy already plays a major role in European production ecosystems and is expected to continue to grow: by 2025, it is estimated that it will contribute 4% of GDP.

In this context, ASEDIE has set among its objectives not only to promote the infomediary sector and the Data Economy, but also to contribute to raising public awareness of its benefits. To this end, it has prepared this report with various indicators that show the impact of the sector.

Main findings of the report

Below is a breakdown of the main conclusions drawn from the report:

• The 10th edition of the report shows a turnover of more than €2 billion, offering employment to almost 23,000 professionals.

• 44% of the infomediary companies surveyed use AI to create value-added products or as a tool. 72% of respondents claim to use both public and private data for the creation of their products and/or services. On the other hand, 17% of the companies indicate that they only use private information compared to 11% that only use public data.

• There are 3 sectors that continue to account for most of the activity, with geographic information standing out. The majority of infomediaries specialise in "geographic information" (24%), "market research" (20%) and the "economic and financial" sub-sector (19%).

• Only two of the subsectors account for almost half of total sales (49%): "Geographic information" and "Economic and financial". However, "Publishing", despite being the 6th sector in terms of number of companies, is the one with the highest average sales (€6M) and median (€917,000). Regarding the latter, it practically doubles the next most important sector ("Directoriales"), which has a value of around €503,000, well above the rest of the sectors.

• Most of the companies are located in the Community of Madrid (38%), Catalonia (13%) and Andalusia (11%). As in previous years, the Infomediary Sector is represented in all the Autonomous Communities.

• 71% of the infomediary companies have been created less than 20 years ago. Of these, 36% are between 11 and 20 years old and 35% are less than 10 years old. The average age continues to be 16 years, with the Publishing subsector being the oldest and the Tourism subsector the youngest.

• The average number of employees per company in the Infomediary Sector is 43, reaching 22,638 employees. As in turnover, the subsector with the highest figure is "geographic information" with 30% of the total.

• The aggregate subscribed capital reached 273,789,439 €, which represents a decrease of 12.2% with respect to the previous edition. Furthermore, the three most capitalised subsectors are "market research", "economic and financial" and "geographic information".

• The net profit generated this year exceeds 110 million euros, which represents a slight decrease compared to the previous year. "Culture" and "Directories" were the only two sub-sectors whose companies did not make a positive profit this year.

• The report identifies the opening of new public sources, the digitisation of the public sector and the interoperability of sources as the main challenges to be addressed. The updating and quality of information are some of the barriers to access and reuse of information.

• 94% of respondents see the creation of the Data Office as an opportunity for the geospatial sector. They expect this body to help in the coordination, centralisation and integration of data, and to promote openness and homogenisation of the availability of public sources.

Top 3 ASEDIE and success stories

The report includes a review of the status of the Top 3 Asedie, ASEDIE's initiative to promote the complete opening of three datasets by all Autonomous Communities, following unified criteria that facilitate their reuse. In 2019, the opening of the Cooperatives, Associations and Foundations databases was proposed. The initiative was a success, and all Communities have now opened at least two of the three proposed databases. This initiative is included in Commitment 9 of the 4th Open Government Plan.

Given the good reception, a new Top 3 was launched in 2020, aimed at those Autonomous Communities that had already opened the first three databases, so that they could continue to advance in the opening of new datasets relating to: Register of Energy Efficiency Certificates, Industrial Estates and SAT Registers (Agricultural Transformation Companies). The evolution in the opening of these databases in the last year has also been remarkable, as shown in the following image.

The report concludes with several success stories of infomediary companies and examples of the products and services they produce, such as Infoempresa's web browser extension for obtaining business information or Axesor's platform (Investiga Pro) that allows online consultation of the Real Property Databases of both the Commercial Registry and the General Council of Notaries.

The report is available on Asedie's website in Spanish together with the video of the presentation of the report. It will soon be available in English together with an executive summary in French and Portuguese.

In conclusion, the sector is in good health, but this year has shown a slight decrease of 4.6% in times of pandemic. However, these figures are above the Spanish average (Spain's GDP fell by almost 10% in the same period). Although 55% of respondents have noticed the effect of Covid-19 on companies' or citizens' access to their data, the fact that 92% of respondents say they are satisfied with the level of digitisation available to them gives hope for improved results in the near future.

The new edition of the Report on the Infomediary Sector by ASEDIE (Multisectoral Information Association), which analyzes the real, economic and social value of companies that reuse data from the public and / or private sector to develop value-added products.

In the 9th edition of this report, 700 companies have been analyzed, showing a stable sector. Specifically, in 2019 the Infomediary Sector grew by 6.4%, an evolution above that of the Gross Domestic Product, which was 3.4%.

In addition, it provides data on how infomediary companies closed 2019 with a sales volume of more than 2,543 million euros and offering employment to almost 22,000 employees.

Below, we break down the main conclusions drawn from the report:

• 3 sectors continue to concentrate most of the activity, highlighting geographic information. Most infomediary companies are specialized in “geographic information” (24%), “market studies” (21%) and the “economic and financial” subsector (18%).
• Half of the subsectors account for 85% of total sales. Highlights Especially the Geographic Information with more than 600 million euros of turnover (23.6%).
• 61% of the infomediary companies consulted use AIto create value-added products or as a tool. 70% of those surveyed affirm that they also reuse the data for internal use, compared to 30% who indicate that the use is exclusively external.
• More than half of the companies are located in the Community of Madrid (38%), Catalonia (13%) and Andalusia (11%). As in previous years, the Infomediary Sector is represented in all the Autonomous Communities.
• Almost 40% of the companies in the Sector have been created in the last 10 years. The average seniority is 16 years, with the Publishing subsector being the oldest and the Tourism subsector being the youngest.
• The average number of employees per company in the Infomediary Sector amounts to 37, until reaching 21,988 workers. As with billing, the subsector with the highest figure is “geographic information” with 30.5% of the total.
• The aggregate subscribed capital exceeds 310 million euros, almost 11 million more than in the previous edition. In addition, the three most capitalized subsectors are "market studies", "economic and financial" and geographic information.
• All subsectors have 65% or more of companies in profits. As in previous years, the net profit generated has exceeded 125 million euros.
• Data analysis and the opening of new databases stand out this time as the main challenges of the Infomediary Sector, closely followed by Digitization. On the other hand, the lack of a “data culture” and the low quality of data are some of the barriers that hinder the access and reuse of information.

The report includes a review of the situation of the Top 3 Asedie, ASEDIE's initiative to promote that all Autonomous Communities fully open three data sets -Cooperatives, Associations and Foundations -, following unified criteria that facilitate their reuse. At the moment, there are already 15 Communities that have opened at least two of the three proposed databases.

The document concludes with several success stories of infomediary companies and examples of the products and services they produce, such as the Infoempresa directory of innovative companies in Spain or the use that Iberimform is doing IBM Watson.

The reportIt is available on the Asedie website in Spanish and English, and will soon be in French. Also available is report presentation video.

In conclusion, we are facing a sector in good health, which shows outstanding growth. Although 74% of those surveyed believe that the pandemic will directly affect the evolution of the Sector this year, the fact that 96% of those surveyed use data to create their value-added products or services makes them confident in positive long-term prospects.

ASEDIE (Multisector Information Association) has published a new edition of the Infomediary Sector report, which analyses the real, economic and social value of companies reusing both public and private data to create value-added products.

The number of companies analysed on this occasion was 697, 35 more than in the previous edition. It should be noted that the financial information used for sales and employees corresponds to fiscal year 2017, because 2018 information was not yet available.

The main conclusions of the report are:

• 97% of Infomediary companies use open data from the public sector. In addition, three of four combine this information with private data. In this context, it is not surprising that 83% of surveyees believe that the opening of databases and access to them for reuse is apriority for the sector's evolution.
• More than 50% of the companies are located in the Community of Madrid (37%) and Catalonia (18%). However, the Infomediary Sector is represented in all the Autonomous Communities, with the exception of the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
• 3 sectors continue to concentrate most of the activity. Most infomediary companies specialize in "geographic information" (22%), "market research" (21%) and the "economic & financial" subsector (20%).
• A sustainable sector, but with a large number of new companies. 60% of the companies analyzed have more than 10 years and almost one third (29%) exceeds twenty - as a curiosity, the oldest company dates from 1947-. But it is also a sector that attracts new actors, since 31% of companies have been created in the last 5 years.
• Turnover increased by 5.4% compared to the previous year. Specifically, the aggregated turnover in the Infomediary Sector is € 1,796,778,748. This figure is very positive, although it should be noted that most of the turnover is concentrated in a few big companies.
• And the number of employees increased by 4.6%, reaching 20,229 workers. These data are very positive, since national full-time employment was 2.9%.
• The aggregate subscribed capital of the sector exceeds 300 million euros. After two consecutive years of decline, the aggregate subscribed capital has experienced a 10% growth in this year, although it is lower than 2016.
• 70% of companies present benefits. 70% of the companies present an average profit of approximately 300,000 euros, with the average loss of the remaining 30% being similar, but with a negative sign. As in previous years, the net profit generated has exceeded 62 million euros.
• Low commercial risk. The probability risk estimated for a company over the last 12 months is moderate or minimum for 74% of companies.
• Data analysis and Big Data stand out again as the main challenges of the Infomediary Sector, followed very closely by the opening of new information sources. On the other hand, the barriers for reuse most mentioned by the surveyees are the different data availability between Autonomous Communities and City Councils.

The report ends by showing a series of success stories in infomediary companies, as re-users, and public sector, as open data publishers.

In short, we are facing a sector with good health, which has experienced a remarkable growth, and with positive prospects for the future: more than half of the surveyees  (65%) estimate that the Infomediary Sector will grow over the course of this year, specifically 64% of them estimate the growth to be between 2-5%.

For the sixth consecutive year, ASEDIE (Multisectorial Information Association) has presented a new edition of its report on the infomediary sector. Its objective is to favor the opening of databases and to know the real economic and social value that this sector brings to society. To that end, 662 companies have been analyzed, 26 more than in the 2017 edition. The report analyzes the 2016 data, comparing the result with the previous edition of the report.

Among the novelties of this year, we can find new analyzes and indicators, such as the average turnover per employee or profit and loss analysis, and the monitoring of information requests at Autonomous Communities level. In addition, a specific survey has been conducted to more than 50 infomediary companies, to find out about their vision of the challenges and opportunities of the sector. The report also include success stories that can be used as a guide to optimize the reuse of open data from public organizations.

Some of the main conclusions of the report are:

• Lack of knowledge about what an infomediary is. Despite the fact that 80% of the surveyed companies share that the use and treatment of information affects their business, only 39% considered themselves as being an Infomediary Company. ASEDIE defines infomediary companies as those who “create value-added products and services with data from both the private and public sector, which help in the decision-making”
• The number of companies increased. In 2017, 21 companies ceased their activity, while 47 new companies were incorporated. The main reason for these inactivities is the company’s own commercial extinction, above mergers or defaults
• Three sectors concentrate most of the activity. Whitin infomediary sector, the main subsectors are geographic information (23.0%), market research (22.5%) and economic and financial activities (20.8%).
• Madrid and Catalonia, the favorite locations. The sector is represented in all the Autonomous Communities, except for the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla. As happened last year, most of the infomediary companies are concentrated in the community of Madrid (36%) and Cataluña (18%), followed by other communities, such as por Andalucía (8%), Galicia (7%) and the community of Valenciana (7%).
• Turnover increases by almost 2%. According to the annual accounts available in the Mercantile Registry, the sector turn over close to 1,720 million euros in 2016. This figure represents an increase of 1.9%, comparing with the previous year and an average turnover of 2.9 million of euros (although the median is 194,698 euros, due to 15 companies concentrate close to 50% of turnover).
• The number of employees working in infomediary companies remains stable. In 2016, the infomediary companies employed 19,347 personnel, a figure similar to 2015 (19,362). In addition, the average turnover per employee reached 88,822 euros.
• Subscribed capital decreases. At the end of 2017, the subscribed capital, that is, the shares acquired by the shareholders, was 274 million euros, compared to 366 million euros in 2016, which represents a reduction of -25% per year, for the second consecutive year. 83% of the capital is concentrated in 4 subsector: “Market research”, “Geographic Information”, “Economic & Financial” and “Publishing”.
• A sector with benefits. 68% of analyzed companies presented benefits in 2016, which highlights the economic opportunities of information reuse to create value added products and services.
• Big Data and data analysis, the main challenges. Due to the increase in volume and diversity of the data that must be analyzed by infomediary companies, it is not surprising that 55% of the companies surveyed consider Big Data and data analysis as their main challenges.
• Need for greater homogenization in data. The lack of a common database makes users have to go to the different platforms enabled by Autonomous Communities or local authorities. The infomediaries surveyed consider this fact one of the main barriers to the information reuse. In addition, they indicate that they would need more complete, up-to-date and easily accessible information, as well as regulations that will facilitate and encourage reuse.

Although there are still Challenges to be overcome, such as the greater homogenization of the data or the attraction of Big Data talent, the conclusions of the report show us an encouraging future. The majority of respondents (69%) consider that the informadiary sector will have a positive economic growth during the coming years. The increase in the turnover in2016 and the fact that most of the infomediary companies present benefits seem to point in this same direction, positioning the infomediary sector as one of the drivers of the economic growth of our country.

Annually the Multisectorial Information Association (ASEDIE) publishes a report analyzing in detail the national infomediary market. This fifth edition evaluates 636 Spanish companies whose activity is based on the re-use of public and/or private information to develop value-added products for third parties or citizens in general in the following sub-sectors: culture, directory services, economic and financial, publishing, market research, geographic information, meteorological, or tourism. The list has grown this year adding two new sectors: Infomediation technology and technical consulting.

According to the data provided in this last study, as in previous years most of the infomediary companies are located in Madrid (38%) and Catalonia (19%) In addition, the geographic information (24%), market research (23%), and the economic and financial (22%) industries are the most representative areas.

Regarding the total revenues for the year 2015, they increased to €1,705 billion; which means an average turnover of 2.68 million euros per company. An increase in 2015 close to 2% in comparison with the previous year.

In relation to the jobs created, according to the ASEDIE report, the infomediary sector employed 19,362 workers in 2015, a positive variation of 4.3% compared to the previous edition; with the largest growth was recorded in the economic and financial sector, with 219 employees more than in 2014, a similar number to the geographic information industry, with new 215 more employees.

Finally, at the closing of 2016 the total subscribed capital was 366 million euros, 20.7% lower than the previous year, after three consecutive years of growth.

Through this report, ASEDIE provides a detailed view of a growing sector at national level, which, thanks to its horizontal nature, is especially relevant in improving business management and the impact of the opportunities generated, both economically as politically and socially.

Regularly, the Ministries of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda and Internal Revenue Service & Public Administrations, through the National Observatory of Telecommunications & the Information Society (ONTSI), publish a report on the characterization of the Spanish infomediary sector. A document that analyses in detail the activities and impact of an industry that, only in 2015, generated a turnover between 600 and 750 million euros.

The fourth edition of this report was recently published, which collects data from 652 infomediary companies in 2015. The report deals with companies specialized in the development of apps, products and added value services based on the re-use of public and private information, data which is obtained through the review of secondary sources, including public data providers and the Trade Registry.

This is a booming industry whose volume of activity has increased 46% and, moreover, according to the information contained in the report, has grown 10% in comparison with 2014.This figure reaches 63% if the tendency is analysed since the date when the report was published for the first time, in the year 2011.

Origin of the re-used information

82% of companies in the infomediary sector re-use public information, coming almost exclusively (96%) from national sources such as the National Statistics Institute, the Official State Bulletin, the National Geographic Institute, the Trade Registry and the State Meteorology Agency, among others. In the case of foreign information, the European Union is the main data provider (69%) along with other international organizations (63%), followed by administrations outside the EU (57%) and universities (23%).

It is important to highlight the role of open data within the sector, as the number of companies re-using information in open format has increased with respect to the previous study, reaching 69% of the total. Nevertheless, 68% of the sector still has to make specific requests because the information they require is not available.

Barriers and opportunities for re-use

The re-use of information, regardless of the source from which it comes, enables the creation of value added products and services, and is a great asset to boost the economy, employment and the progress of the knowledge society, especially in the area of Smart cities and social data. Nevertheless, the ONTSI study identifies as the main obstacle to infomediary activity the lack of homogeneity of information at regional and local level, this being an additional barrier to the following demands:

● Greater proactivity in the management of the information of the Public Administration information, promoting open data by default.

●  Development of ICT tools that facilitate the automation of the processes of access, refinement, treatment, enrichment and analysis of public data.

● Improved availability and quality of public data, promoting open reusable formats, interoperability and ensuring access to information.

● Promotion of public-private collaboration for the development of the infomediary market

As regards the future of the sector, companies refer to a wide range of possibilities linked to the development of products or services focussed on real-time decision-making, based on social network analysis, and data from Smart Cities, and  new tools that allow the automated data management and interpretation. In this sense, the advance in the big data movement and the tools for their exploitation and support will be key elements for the future development of the sector.

This report falls within the scope of actions aimed at encouraging the openness of public sector information and favouring its re-use, one of the most relevant lines of action in recent years of Red.es, implemented through the Aporta Initiative. Thus the 2016 edition of the Report on the Infomediary Sector Characterization provides greater knowledge about the activity of this industry, incorporating new aspects compared with previous documents by performing a systematic analysis of the sector, regardless of the origin of the re-used information, and including a set of good practices of infomediary companies from which recommendations can be made that help other projects in the sector.

On November 24, the Multisectoral Information Association (ASEDIE) organized the eighth edition of the International Conference on the Re-use of Public Sector Information. An annual meeting where representatives of the public sector, independent organizations, companies and citizens meet to analyze the progress and barriers faced by the national infomediary sector.

For those interested in the event who were not able to attend the Conference, the presentations of the seven speakers who presented different materials, initiatives and experiences related to open data have been recently published:

• Ana del Valle, coordinator of the Trade Registry of the Registrars Association who shared the BRIS system, an initiative of the European Commission that allows electronic communication among the Trade Registries of the different EU countries.
• Antonio Rodríguez, head of the infrastructure area at the National Geographic Institute of Spain, explained the reasons why the openness is essential, exemplifying with ING's real experience that, by eliminating the information barriers, the organization has surpassed ten thousand data downloads in this year.
• Cristina Morales, Deputy Director of Digital Content of the Information Society, Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, was in charge of remembering the open data actions of the public sector at national, European and global level. In addition, she showed the results of the last edition of the IODC in Madrid as well as the conclusions obtained after the event.
• Jesús Rubí, attached to the Director of the Data Protection Agency, released the latest guidelines on data protection and anonymisation. Two essential materials to preserve privacy during the process of openness and reuse of information.
• Josema Alonso, director of the open data program of the World Wide Web Foundation, dedicated his presentation to the strategic and implementation problems of open data initiatives in the world. At the same time he analyzed the particular challenges of the sector in Spain and the key areas of improvement to open data become a reality in each socioeconomic aspect of the country.
• Sebastián Laíno, Economic and Commercial Attache of the Embassy of the Argentine Republic, participated as representative of the country that organizes the next edition of the IODC in 2018.
• Victoria Figueroa, Deputy Director of the Office of Transparency and Access to Information of the Presidency Ministry for the Administrations, was in charge of closing the meeting with her presentation on the law of transparency, access to information and good governance and its convergence with the reuse of open data.

In addition, for the third consecutive year the ASEDIE Prize was awarded to the Public Sector Procurement Platform. All the information about the events organized by ASEDIE are available on its official website.

El pasado 24 de noviembre, la Asociación Multisectorial de la Información organizó la octava edición de la Conferencia Internacional sobre la Reutilización de la Información del Sector Público. Una reunión de carácter anual donde representantes del sector público, organizaciones independientes, empresas y ciudadanos se dan cita para analizar los avances y barreras a las que se enfrenta el sector infomediario nacional.

Para aquellos interesados en el evento que no pudieron acudir a la Conferencia, recientemente se han publicado las presentaciones de los siete ponentes quienes se expusieron diferentes materiales, iniciativas y experiencias en torno al sector de los datos, entre las que destacan:

• Ana del Valle, coordinadora Registro Mercantil del Colegio de Registradores quien compartió el sistema BRIS, una iniciativa de la Comisión Europea que permite la comunicación electrónica entre los Registros Mercantiles de los diferentes países de la UE.
• Antonio Rodríguez, jefe del área de infraestructura del Instituto Geográfico Nacional de España que explicó los motivos por los cuales es imprescindible la apertura, ejemplificando con la experiencia real del ING que, al eliminar las barreras de su información, ha superado las diez mil descargas de datos en este año.
• Cristina Morales, Subdirectora General de Contenidos Digitales de la Sociedad de la Información, Ministerio de Energía, Turismo y Agenda Digital, fue la encargada de recordar las acciones a escala nacional, europea y mundial del sector público español en materia de datos abiertos. Además, aprovechó la Conferencia para mostrar el balance de resultados de la última edición del IODC en Madrid así como las conclusiones obtenidas tras el evento.
• Jesús Rubí, adjunto al Director de la Agencia de Protección de Datos dio a conocer las últimas guías de la AEPD sobre la protección y anonimización de datos. Dos materiales imprescindibles para preservar la privacidad durante los procesos de apertura y reutilización de la información.
• Josema Alonso, director del programa open data del World Wide Web Foundation, dedicó su ponencia a acercar los problemas estratégicos y de implementación de las iniciativas de datos abiertos en el mundo; al mismo tiempo que analizó los retos particulares del sector en España y las áreas clave de mejora para que el open data sea una realidad en todos los aspectos socioeconómicos del país.
• Sebastián Laíno, agregado Económico y Comercial de la Embajada de la República Argentina, participó como representante del país que recoge el testigo de la próxima edición de la IODC en 2018. 
• Victoria Figueroa, Subdirectora de la Oficina de la Transparencia y Acceso a la Información del Ministerio Presidencia para las Administraciones, fue la encargada de cerrar el encuentro con su presentación la ley de la transparencia, acceso a la información y buen gobierno y su convergencia con la reutilización y los datos abiertos.

Además, por tercer año consecutivo el Premio ASEDIE se otorgó a la Plataforma de Contratación del Sector Público. Toda la información sobre los eventos organizados por ASEDIE están disponibles en su página web oficial.