Unión Europea

One of the main difficulties in promoting the reuse of public sector information refers to the diversity of licenses. Given the absence of a general obligation, each public entity can decide the legal conditions to access for subsequent reuse taking into account the legal preference for open licenses, establishing the minimum possible restrictions.

In any case, there are no clear guidelines on how to use licenses, so that each entity could establish the conditions without having to resort to said instrument. Nor is there an unequivocal legal criterion that allows public entities to choose a certain type of license over another; which ultimately implies that the decision is normally based on criteria of opportunity or, where appropriate, based on the prior conditioning of the document management carried out internally by the entity (support in which it is carried out, formats used, respect for the interoperability rules ...).

Based on these premises, it is of great importance to establish specific criteria for the adoption of such decisions, in particular through the approval of a legal norm in the strict sense. This is the case, for example, in the field of the General State Administration, where some general rules for the provision of data have been established by regulation and, likewise, the preference for openness without conditions has been established unless there is an adequate motivation to justify the option for a reuse regime subject to them. Although already non-normative, one can also opt for the establishment of mere guidelines that, although lacking in strict force, can certainly be useful for making general preferences known in each administrative area.

This problem is reproduced and even multiplied if we project it in Europe. Indeed, although the new Directive 1024/2019 has established specific rules on the use of licenses, the truth is that it leaves a wide discretion to the Member States when they approve their own rules since, in addition to simply urging them to encourage use of type licenses, only establishes a mere obligation to ensure (Article 9.2)

because the type licenses for the reuse of public sector documents, which may be adapted to respond to specific applications of the license, are available in digital format and can be processed electronically.

Consequently, Member States are free to only establish conditions without using licenses; configure their own license adapting to specific measures; or, where appropriate, contemplate the use of type licenses. However, in the absence of the aforementioned guidelines and standards, in principle there will be no objective and predetermined criteria for setting the conditions for access and reuse of information, which would affect not only the public entities themselves but, in particular, those who aim to promote a specific project based on reuse, already for commercial purposes and with a political-social objective. Even more when finding that there can be multiple alternatives depending on the way in which the various criteria that can be taken into account are combined. Specifically, beyond the necessary attribution of authorship - recognition - it would be necessary to assess, among other circumstances, whether or not commercialization is allowed; if in the latter case the power of dissemination is conferred under the same legal conditions in which the data is provided; or, without exhaustive spirit, if modifications, adaptations or even translations are admitted as a result of data processing.

To cope with this difficulty, multiple studies and explanations have been prepared that, both from an academic perspective and, also, from a decided practical approach, are intended to help understand the scope of each type of license, which is especially interesting when the analysis attempts to systematize the existing practice in each of the States of the European Union. However, normally such instruments suffer from an excessively rigid approach, which hinders their use and limits their usefulness, hence the importance of promoting dynamic initiatives that effectively facilitate the understanding of the scope of each of the various types of licenses.

This is precisely the added value of the licensing assistant that has launched the European Data Portal. It is a tool that allows you to carry out advanced adjustments that combine, on the one hand, the choice of specifications and conditions of use and, on the other hand, it offers systematized information in very intuitive formats, such as color assignment or provision of clear and easy to understand information through summary sheets.

Specifically, the assistant allows you to make multiple advanced assignment settings by combining three criteria:

• The obligations that the license entails, an element that in turn articulates from several sub-criteria (lesser copyleft, attribution, sharealike, notice, copyleft and status changes).
• The permission granted, a criterion that is also systematized according to five more precise options (derivative works, distribution, reproduction, sublicensing and use patent claims).
• The prohibition or authorization of commercial uses of the data.

All these criteria can be activated in the configuration chosen when using the assistant, so you can search for those licenses that incorporate only one of them or several. It is also possible to activate in each search elements belonging to each of the main criteria, two of them or, also, to those included in three of them, according to the degree of precision indicated in each assumption. In any case, if several search criteria were legally incompatible with each other, no result would be obtained, which allows an intuitive and efficient exploration of all the possibilities of existing licenses for a specific case from searches that, otherwise, would certainly be complex.

In addition, the assistant allows to link each type of license with a summary sheet where the limitations and possibilities of each type of license are presented in a simple and easily to understand way. Even, in addition to indicating the possibilities, obligations and prohibitions assigning intuitive colours to each alternative, sometimes a succinct explanation is included to facilitate the understanding of each of the alternatives. Finally, each of the cards allows linking to the rest of comparable licenses, so that it is possible to perform that analysis in a simple way.

Even if some advanced functions could be added, such as linking licenses with specific initiatives and projects that are using this type to facilitate their understanding or even incorporate a greater depth of analysis highlighting the main advantages and disadvantages of each type license, the truth is that it is an instrument of unquestionable added value when exploring potential configurations of the conditions of use through licenses by public authorities; who, in addition, can go to the assistant to project multiple simulations when deciding the specific type of license to choose in each case based on diverse criteria.

With regard to reusers, the tool facilitates the effective understanding of each type of license, helping to determine what are the obligations assumed and the limitations to information treatments.

In short, the assistant is undoubtedly a remarkable effort in facilitating the interoperability of licenses in legal terms that, without a doubt, can serve as a basis for more complete future initiatives such as the one being promoted within the framework of the platform Joinup, where a suggestive initial working document has already been generated.

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

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

Earth Observation data have great potential to create new innovative products and services, an issue that the European Union wants to promote. Therefore, within the Horizon 2020 program, the Parsec accelerator has been launched. Parsec will allocate 2.5 million euros to transform ideas into solutions that take advantage of the potential of this type of data.

The project is developed in connection with the Copernicus program and in collaboration with the European Space Agency and 9 entities from 7 countries, such as Avaesen (Valencian Association of Energy Sector Companies).

The project began in May and will last for 30 months. SMEs, start-ups, entrepreneurs and researchers from member countries of the European Union and associated countries can participate. They only need one idea related to some of the following areas:

• Food: smart agriculture, food security, distribution, etc.

• Energy: renewable energy, Smart Cities, infrastructure monitoring, gas, oil, etc.

• Environment: water and air quality, climate change, forestry, marine resources, etc.

Those interested in participating must submit their idea before December 20, 2019 through the following form. To do this, they must prepare a video of no more than 3 minutes in which they talk about their skills and their vision of innovation.

From then on the project will be developed in two phases:

• Phase 1: After a period of self-evaluation (the applicants themselves are those who evaluate the other applicants through a peer-to-peer application) 100 projects will be chosen, which will receive 10,000 euros each. In addition, the finalists can benefit from a support program that includes personalized training with European experts, coaching, networking with potential clients and partners, and tools to boost the business.
• Phase 2: In the second phase, 15 projects will be selected, which will receive 100,000 euros of funding each. In addition, those selected will have access to tools for testing developed products and the possibility of contacting specialized investors.

These phases will be developed according to the following calendar:

In addition to supporting SMEs and startups that use satellite data for business innovation, this project also seeks to create a community that remain once the call is finished, and that helps promote the international competitiveness of European remote sensing companies through the collaboration between groups. Therefore, many of the tools created will remain active once it is finished.

If you wish to participate, you can find the complete information in the Guide for applicants.

Copernicus is the Earth observation program of the European Union. Through 6 thematic services, and the images provided by its satellites, Copernicus provides complete, free and up-to-date geospatial data that helps the monitoring and management of the territory and the planet both at European and worldwide level.

In datos.gob.es, we have interviewed Nuria Valcárcel, Deputy Assistant Director (Observation of the Territory) of the General Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography, in the D.G. National Geographic Institute (IGN) of the Ministry of Development, an organization that represents Spain in the Copernicus Users Forum, for the monitoring and evolution of the program, together with the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO).

Earth observation data, such as those linked to the Copernicus project, always awaken great interest. What are the reasons?

Copernicus geospatial data are essential as a decision-making tool in the current digital economy and government systems. These data can be used to analyze and monitor phenomena due to climate change, and help us find solutions. Its potential is also enormous in matters related to safety, transportation, emergency management, sustainability assessment...

There are many organizations that, aware of the current context, have highlighted the importance of this initiative to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as the United Nations Organization or the European Commission. The United Nations, in its document “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, indicates that national institutions should promote the use of Earth observation data and geospatial information, to follow up on the 2030 Agenda.

Specifically, what kind of data and information does Copernicus provide?

Copernicus data has 2 large components: on the one hand, the information obtained via satellite, such as the Sentinel constellations, and on the other the in-situ component, that is, any data not coming from satellites. For example, air quality data, water quality data in rivers and reservoirs, wave and sea level information through buoys, tide gauges, orthophotographs and digital elevation models ... In the case of Spain, these data are provided by different national organizations such as IGN, MITECO, AEMET or State Ports, among others.

Through the Copernicus hub you can access and download these data. The information obtained through Sentinel satellites is available for use by any citizen, but when we talk about the rest of the on-site data, we find differences according to the data policy of each country. In the case of Spain, it should be noted that we have really been pioneers in open data policies and much of the information we generate is available through Copernicus' own download platforms or national platforms.

Who are the main users of this type of data? Could you give an example?

Public administrations are the main users of Copernicus, but an increasing number of companies rely on these data to generate new opportunities and improve their competitiveness, as well as universities and research centers.

The IGN and other Spanish administrations are beginning to work with large and small Spanish companies to collaborate in the generation of data for Copernicus, but we also try to boost its reuse more and more. For example, for water management or smart agriculture, since they facilitate continuous monitoring of the state of the crops, allowing water resources to be optimized. As a concrete example, we can talk about the DIANA Project, in which the company AGRISAT and the Andalusian Federation of Irrigation Communities of Andalusia (FERAGUA) participate, to generate an innovative commercial services platform, based on Copernicus Earth Observation data and other sources, for the identification of illegal irrigation areas and the estimation of volumes of water extracted.

Forest management can also greatly benefit from Sentinel satellites and Copernicus data. This is the case of AGRESTA and its FORESMAP application, which combine satellite data with others data sources such as the Lidar provided by the IGN, to provide an online forest inventory calculation. This application has been awarded at the 2018 Copernicus Masters CGI Big Data Business Challenge.

Another area with great potential is marine services, for the sustainable exploitation of coastal resources, port management, or the optimization and safety of trade routes. Here we can mention NOLOGIN as an example. It provide a (web and mobile) real time application and predictions for decision making in system ports, based on Copernicus data, with an alert and report management interface.

And regarding public administrations, do you know any AA.PP. that intensively use Copernicus project data?

There are many experiences. To highlight some examples, the IGN provides Copernicus data directly through the Download Center and makes extensive use and dissemination of Sentinel satellite images through the National Remote Sensing Plan. These data are also used by the IGN to enrich the system for monitoring changes in the terrain, for example, to assess volcanic risk.

The data of the marine operational service are very useful for State Ports. knowing how marine currents evolve, and improving their predictive models is possible thanks to them

For its part, AEMET participates in the generation of Copernicus data and services in relation to Atmosphere and Climate Change, as a member of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which benefits Spanish institutions and scientists participating in numerous research programs.

The Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund, the National Parks Network, the General Water Directorate, the Autonomous Communities, as well as a large number of universities and study centers also use these type of data.

What are the main challenges and barriers to the reuse of Earth observation data?

The challenges that reusers have to face could be summarized in 4 areas.

In the first place, some technical knowledge is required to work with Copernicus data. Although sometimes we find some data or services easy to use by non-expert users, in other cases advanced capabilities are needed to locate and understand the information. Copernicus Program is making an effort to train professionals, through free courses, while working on the creation of environments where data are easily located and easy to use.

Secondly, we could talk about the coordination between the different levels of European administration (local, regional, state ...). A common effort must be made to generate better data, avoiding duplication, and for this, coordination between European and national institutions is essential. Currently, there are coordination mechanisms already established, but there are areas for improvement.

Thirdly, it is necessary to improve the interaction with users, to better understand their needs and thus be able to assess whether the Copernicus program is responding to those needs. And these needs are changing and require constant adaptation. Through the Spanish Users' Committees and Forum, the National Services Coordinators, and the Relay and Academy Networks, we are making a strong effort to approach as many users as possible, to work together in a common goal.

Finally, we cannot forget the need to encourage data to be interoperable, to meet common standards and to be harmonized. For example, the Mediterranean coast, and the different phenomena and dynamics that affect it, have to be monitored as a whole, and for this we need a common pan-European data, also harmonized with the national data that each country manages. Again, coordination between administrations is essential to achieve this goal.

One of the challenges you have mentioned is the user´s lack of knowledge about Copernicus data availability. What concrete actions are the IGN taking to publicize Copernicus data?

The European Union organizes different activities to encourage the use of Copernicus data in private companies. This is the case of the Copernicus Master competition, hackathons, the acceleration programs (Copernicus Accelerator) or business incubation (Copernicus Incubator). These types of activities, often aimed at entrepreneurs and start-ups, seek to support new ideas that involve the creation of services and commercial applications related to Copernicus.

In addition, the IGN, together with the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO), in the Copernicus Users Forum, and also with representatives in the Copernicus Committee (the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the Centre for Technological and Industrial Development), works very actively with the different user groups in Spain. We are part of the Copernicus Users Forum, we carry out meetings and workshops for specific services and themes (Territory, Marine, Agriculture, Smart Cities, etc.), we encourage the participation of universities in Copernicus activities and proposals… In short, we seeks to generate a favorable ecosystem that facilitates the use of Copernicus.

Finally, could you tell us what your future plans are?

The Copernicus program is open to continuous review of requirements. In this regard, I would highlight two issues on the agenda.

First, the synergies between Copernicus and Galileo, the European Union navigation system, that the Ministry of Development also lead in Spain. The integration of both systems allows real-time monitoring of atmospheric phenomena to determine how vehicles move in cities. In this way, the constant impact of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles could be monitored. It could also be used in matters of security, surveillance of natural hazards, etc.

On the other hand, the European Commission is directing its policies towards sustainability and the fight against climate change. In the new Copernicus operating cycle (2021-2027), some of the areas to be promoted are the monitoring of greenhouse gases or the monitoring of Polar Regions (snow and ice level). The civil security approach will also be expanded and the use of Copernicus data will be encouraged not only in Europe, but also in other regions, such as Latin America or Africa.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom branch finances the deployment of pan-European telecommunications infrastructure for the interconnection of Member States. To this end, each year the European Union allocates funding for both digital service platforms and general services that integrate these platforms with national structures. One of the areas included in the initiative is open data.  

In this context, the call for general services in the area of ​​open data was published on July 4. Specifically, 5 million euros are allocated to boost the development of information products and services based on the reuse and combination of public and commercial data across the EU.

The suggested products and services must reuse data sets available through the European Data Portal, and combine them with other sources of information. In addition, these proposals are intended to be relevant for more than one Member State in terms of geographic data coverage and / or utility.

The EU encourages proposals that address categories or areas of geographic coverage that need additional improvements in terms of content, interoperability and data quality, as well as proposals that would lead to the improvement of existing data platforms. Specifically, the proposals submitted must address all the challenges listed below:

• Support the deployment of new innovative services by integrating/developing ecosystems supported by open platforms.
• Harmonisation in terms of data content, paying special attention to the level of detail (granularity), data structure and semantics.
• Address both technical and legal issues, including the adoption of harmonised conditions for re-use.
• Address priority domains as defined in European Commission notice 2014/C 240/01"Guidelines on recommended standard licences, datasets and charging for the reuse of documents" and in annex I to Directive (EU) 2019/1024 on open data and the re-use of public sector information. These categories are: the domains of geospatial, earth observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, mobility and companies’ data (for example, business records). Other categories can be considered, when duly justified.
• Facilitate the re-use of data, making use, as much as possible, existing or newly developed APIs.
• Provide mechanisms for assessing the impact of solutions, through concrete Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and collect examples of re-use.
• Datasets generated by the Actions will have to be discoverable and available through one or more Member State open data portals and through the European Data Portal. 

The deadline for submitting the proposals ends on November 14, 2019. Then, an evaluation period will begin, culminating in the resolution in April-May 2020 (estimated date).

You can read the full call here, and get inspired by last year's winners.

The third edition of the EU Dathaton 2019 has come to an end. 99 projects were presented, and 12 was selected to pitched their project at the final of this competition, which seeks to promote the use of open data in EU countries to generate new ideas, products and innovative services in 3 categories:

• Challenge 1: 'Innovative ideas through open data'. Participant developed innovative ideas using open data and combined with other open or private data sources.
• Challenge 2: 'New insights in economics and finance'. Participants had to develop a new perspective, concept or business model through open data.
• Challenge 3: 'Tackling climate change', aimed at the creation of new concepts or business models that help fight against climate change using open data.

Among the 12 finalists, we could find two Spanish proposals: EnvyRState, which finish in the fourth position in Challenge 2, and The Blue Time Machine (BTM), which win the second prize in Challenge 3.

• EnvyRState is a project of the University of Castilla La Mancha, presented by Emilio López Cano. EnvyRState uses open data from Eurostat and the European Central Bank, among other sources. It is a web tool, interactive and dynamic, that allows to visualize and analyze different effects of the real estate market in the environment. This project includes heat maps and charts, and continuously updates conclusions about the real estate market.
• The Blue Time Machine (BTM), presented by Paula Camus, researcher at IH Cantabria, is a digital representation of the past, present and future conditions of our "blue planet". Its objective is to better understand our environment to deal with climate change. For this, it uses data from Copernicus and EMODnet.

Both projects were presented at a final act in Brussels, on June 13, where a jury chose the winners of each category:

• Challenge 1. The first prize went to the Smartfiles Network, an Austrian network that aims to make national and EU jurisprudence accessible from any PDF. The second and third prize went to Euromaps, a Belgian platform that uses maps to tell stories with data about Europe, and Politicindex, a German platform that summarizes the promises and achievements of politicians and allows users to compare and filter.

• Challenge 2. EconCartography, a map that shows the European economies and identifies their growth opportunities, elaborated by an Italian team, won the first prize. The second prize went to Investment Info, a Finnish application that uses and compiles investment and macroeconomic data to provide an overview of the investment atmosphere and make forecasts; while the third prizes went to Bizmap, a French decision-making tool that allows small and medium-sized companies to visualize the most economically attractive regions of the EU for international expansion.

• Challenge3. The winner was the Greek team creator of Chloe Irrigation Systems, a platform that monitors and optimizes irrigation systems using artificial intelligence to reduce water waste and increase crop yields. The second place went to the Spanish The Blue Time Machine (BTM), and third place went to the Belgian MindYourFoot, a Belgian tool that aims to achieve reductions in carbon emissions through awareness and advice.

The 3 teams that won the competition received €15,000 each, the second prize was €7,000 and the third prize € 3,000.

All information about the competition at: https://publications.europa.eu/en/web/eudatathon

After the agreement reached between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the regulation replacing Directive 2003/98/EC, which was reformed in 2013, has just been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. This milestone is due to a review process that has been processed for several months at European level with a wide participation, which has made possible to incorporate not only the point of view of the Member States but also the concerns and contributions of the companies, associations, stakeholders and society in general.

Spain and the other member countries have until July 17, 2021 to transpose the directive.

Why is this reform necessary?

The current evolution of the technological, social and economic context demands a normative framework better adapted to the challenges facing the European Union. In particular, it is important to adapt legal guarantees to the demands of competitiveness and innovation brought about by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence or the Internet of Things. The text now presented is a first step in the process of modernizing the normative framework of open data and the reuse of public sector information, despite the partial reform that was completed only six years ago, that respond to  proposals from the beginning of the century and, therefore, clearly overcome.

Who does the reform refer to?

This regulation intends, in first place, to extend the scope of application of the previous regulations. In this sense, what refers to the obliged subjects, public companies and public undertakings are expressly included, always that they operate in the field of public sector contracting corresponding to the so-called "included sectors" (water, energy, transport and postal services) or they act as operators linked to public service obligations in the field of transport. On the contrary, the aforementioned companies are excluded when the information is generated outside the network of services of general interest or in activities where they act under a regime of free competition.

In addition, conditions to be considered as public undertaking are specifically established, that is, that there is a "dominant influence" by public sector bodies; an influence that may consist of the majority of the undertaking's subscribed capital, votes or , where applicable, the control of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of the entity.

What are the novelties?

The new regulation extends the scope of its articles both in terms of certain material areas of special interest and data types of particular relevance.

• Thus, research data would be included in European regulation when the activity is funded with public funds, although the need to protect other legal assets, such as intellectual and industrial property, confidentiality derived from legitimate commercial interests or, where appropriate, the protection of personal data, is established. This difficult balance is formulated with a new principle to take into account in this area: the data will be "as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.
• Several references to metadata are also included in the article, so that the scope of the reuse obligations also extends to them. This way, the limitations of the previous and restrictive conception of the documents are overcome, so that in the new document definition any content and any part of it is understood.
• Another important novelty is the regulation of so-called dynamic data, of great importance for treatments based on Artificial Intelligence and those projects such as smart cities where the use of sensors and interconnections have a special role. Specifically, it is contemplated that this data would be made available immediately after compilation, through appropriate APIs and, even, in the form of a massive download when appropriate.
• A specific regime is also introduced for the so-called high-value datasets, initially limited to certain areas (geospatial, environmental, meteorological, statistical, societies and mobility) but with the authorization to be extended by the European Commission. These datasets can generate relevant socio-economic and environmental benefits, stimulate innovative services, benefit a large number of people or SMEs, as well as be combined with other datasets. For this reason, it is established that such dataset will be provided free of charge (with some exceptions) and in “machine-readable format”, through an API and, where appropriate, facilitating its massive download.

Other novelties to consider are:

• With regard to the conditions of reuse, the importance of the principle of open by design and by default is emphasized. However, this principle does not imply an obligation by public sector bodies to take disproportionate efforts to transform the information available according to these formal requirements.
• On the other hand, the criterion of the mere recovery of marginal costs is qualified, to the point that it would not apply to those organizations that are required to generate income to cover a substantial part of their costs to carry out the public service mission that they have entrusted, to libraries or to public companies. In these cases, there are special rules to establish the reasonable margin of benefit that is considered admissible or, as regards the libraries, to face the conservation and compensation rights, among other circumstances.
• Likewise, the measures relating to exclusive agreements are adapted. In this sense, its admissibility is contemplated for reasons of the provision of a service of public interest; specific rules are established for the cultural sphere and, likewise, the legality of those agreements that suppose not exclusively an exclusivity in the strict sense but, even, a mere limited availability, is conditioned.

Ultimately, this project intends to establish the legal conditions that allow facing the economic and social opportunities offered by the reuse of public data, in particular by advancing in a greater standardization that helps to overcome the obstacles of excessive regulatory fragmentation. But, as explicitly emphasized in the text, it is not enough to achieve purely economic objectives, but the promotion of the reuse of open data and public sector information is also a democratic requirement of great relevance to facilitate transparency and accountability.

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

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

Promote the use of open data in the European Union to generate new ideas, products and innovative services. That is the objective of EU Datathon, which this year celebrates its third edition, organized by the Publications Office and the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The competition offers participants the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in data-related issues and show their ideas to the world. To do this, they will have to develop applications - web or mobile -, visualizations and insights that combine at least one data set produced by the EU institutions, agencies and bodies with other sources of public or private data.

There are 3 different categories, one horizontal challenge and two thematic challenges:

• Challenge 1: 'Innovative ideas through open data'. Participants should develop innovative ideas using open data from the EU. Specifically, they must use at least one data set from the EU Open Data Portal, and combine it with other open or not data sources.
• Challenge 2: 'New insights in economics and finance'. Participants will have to develop a new insight, business model or business concept through open data. To do this, they must work with at least one dataset from the European Central Bank, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Budget, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Finance, the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund or Eurostat, and combine it with other open or private data sources.
• Challenge 3: 'Tackling climate change'. Participants will have to develop a new business concept or business model to fight against climate change using open data. To do this, they will have to combine at least one dataset in the domain of climate change and environment from the EU Open Data Portal, with any other source (for example, the FAO or the European Environment Agency).

Those interested in participating have to register their project using this online form, before March 24, 2019.

Then, the evaluation process begins, which will consist of two phases: preselection and final selection.

• Pre-selection: an independent experts jury will evaluate the projects description,  and select a maximum of 4 teams for each category, based on its relevance to digital transformation in Europe and the potential of the proposed solution, among other factors.
• Final selection: The preselected teams will be invited to develop their application or visualization in almost two months. Then, they will have to present their proyect during the final conference, which will take place on June 13 in Brussels. In addition to its relevance, the applications will be evaluated against some criteria such as solutions scalability or its interoperability to other data sources.

As a prize, € 25,000 will be allocated for each challenge, which will be split in the following order:

• First prize:  EUR 15,000
• Second prize: EUR 7,000
• Third prize: EUR 3,000

For all those interested, the organizers have prepared a series of webinars, to detail the bases of the contest and show some data sources that can be used.

If you have an idea, do not hesitate to participate!

Data has become the main value of companies. An increasing number of economic sectors are incorporating the capture and analysis of data not only as a fundamental metric to know how their business has evolved, but also to predict how they will behave in the future.

The analysis of large volumes of data is an essential resource for economic growth, job creation and social progress. There are hundreds of examples: industry companies that analyse the performance of their  machinery to predict when maintenance tasks will be necessary; utilities that base their production adjustments based on energy consumption patterns that allow to predict users demands; or farmers who schedule irrigation according to weather and crops behavior.

For this ecosystem to work properly, companies not only need internal data, but also need to have access to external information: open data from public or private sources that enrich the analysis models or work as a basis for the creation of new products and services. In other words, it is necessary to create a Single Digital Market, where certain data are shared between the member states.

The European Union is aware of this situation and, therefore, they started a conversation with states and other stakeholders. The objective is to develop the most appropriate actions to take advantage of the full potential of European data economy. According to the EU, the value of the EU data economy was €272 billion in 2015, close to 1.9% of GDP, but this value could more than double by 2020, with adapted policy and legal solutions.

One of the first actions that EU is carrying out is to analyze the possible challenges and propose solutions, as detailed below:

Free flow of data

Legal or administrative restrictions on data location may prevent the private and public sectors from having access to data. It is difficult for a small service provider to offer competitive prices in several markets within the EU, because it would have to arrange data storage or processing capacity in every member state.

The solution is removing data localisation restrictions except if they are required for national security. Data does not have to be stored in one specific member state, because free flow of data is guaranteed based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Data access and transfer

As we have anticipated before, companies tend to analyse data only in-house. The exchange of data with other stakeholders remains uncommon, because there are no comprehensive policy frameworks for the economic use of non-personal and anonymized data generated by machines and sensors.

Therefore, it is necessary to facilitate and encourage the exchange and reuse of data, protecting investments and assets. For example, encouraging the use of common suppliers that help to optimize costs and improve efficiency: while agricultural machines need 90 minutes to map yields from one hectare, a specialized provider can do the same in 10 minutes, using drones and unified data from different farms.

Legal responsibility for data based products

An Internet of Things ecosystem is made up of many market players (software providers, hardware providers, management platforms, security providers, etc.). This generates a complex context where it is difficult to identify who is responsible for each task, which affects innovation and uptake of data driven products and services.

To solve it, it is necessary to define the responsibilities previously.

Data portability, interoperability and standards

Personal data portability is a right and, therefore, it cannot be complex or expensive. However, a business using cloud services cannot easily extract or port their data because it might be too expensive or technically complicated (for example, to switch providers).

Therefore, it would be necessary to reduce switching costs in order to stimulate an innovation-friendly environment and improve technical interoperability and data standards.

The creation of a digital single market is one of EU priorities. Overcoming these challenges requires a common effort from member countries and companies to create clear rules that allow the sharing of interesting data in a simple manner and without great costs. In this way, it will be possible to improve innovation and boost the European economy.

The European Union was created to facilitate commercial transactions between its member states, eliminating barriers and ensuring the free movement of goods, people and services. With the rise of data and the digital economy, the institution had to expand its scope beyond physical assets, and include among its functions the creation of a Digital Single Market that promotes the exchange of information in a secure way.

The public organisms do not stop generating data, which are a valuable raw material to favour economic growth. The power of public open data is evident according to European Union studies: more than 50% surveyed companies use open data to create new products and services; and a third of start-ups supported by ODINE would not exist without open data.

In order to facilitate the reuse of information from the public sector, Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (PSI Directive) was created. It introduced provisions on non-discrimination, cost, exclusive agreements, transparency and licenses, among other aspects. In 2013 this directive was amended by Directive 2013/37/EU. The 2013 Directive incorporated the need to carry out a review of the initiative on accessibility and reuse of public information before July 18th, 2018, with the aim of increasing the amount of public sector data available for reuse, ensuring fair competition and easy access to markets based on public sector information, and enhancing cross-border innovation.

To carry out this review, a thorough analysis of other current directives (INSPIRE or Database Directive) has been carried out in order to be aligned. Likewise, a public hearing and an analysis of the impact on the economy of the changes introduced in 2013 has been carried out. During the hearing process, all interested parties, including public authorities and reusers (public, private, commercial and non-commercial) were invited to contribute

The conclusions have confirmed that the Directive has helped to stimulate the European economy, achieving its objectives. In addition, it has had a favourable impact on transparency, citizen empowerment, and public sector efficiency. However, they also indicate that there are still challenges to overcome in order to fully exploit the potential of public sector information for the European economy and society. Some of these challenges are related to the following aspects:

• Limited real-time access to data. More dynamic data should be provided in real time and more technical solutions developed to facilitate data usability.
• Charges about cost. Charge for reusing public sector data should not cost more than “the marginal costs for reproducing, making available and dissemination the open data”. However, a widespread practice of demanding much higher amounts has been found. This create market entry barriers for SMEs and startups.
• The lack of availability of high interest data, because they are in the hands of private operators. For example, data generated by companies providing public services (utilities, transport, etc.) or research data from public funding.
• The need to avoid exclusivity agreements. Public-private agreements can lead to situations in which public sector information is blocked.
• The relationship between the PSI Directive and certain related legal instruments.

Given these challenges, the Commission is in the revision process of the PSI Directive, regarding the following aspects:

• Stimulate the publishing of dynamic data and the uptake of APIs.
• Limit the exceptions allowing public bodies to charge for the reuse of their data more than the marginal costs of dissemination.
• Enlarge the scope of the Directive, including data held by public undertakings – in this case, charges for the reuse of such data can be above marginal costs for dissemination- and research data resulting from public funding.
• Strengthen the transparency requirements for public–private agreements involving public sector information, avoiding exclusive arrangements.

Until July 3th, the deadline is open for those who wish to provide their opinion on the different aspects included in the review.

In summary, the revision of the PSI Directive aim to continue promoting an open data ecosystem that allows a further step towards the creation of a Digital Single Market. With the new PSI Directive as a driver for the cross-border reuse of open data, it will be easier to start new data-based businesses, as well as to improve existing ones, with the consequent value for society, as shown in the following figure.

Under the Horizon 2020 framework, the CLARITY project will support European Member States in their pursuit for greater trust, transparency and efficiency within their open eGovernment initiatives, fostering good practices in this field in conjunction with e-government, especially within local government sectors, SMEs and self-employed, general medicine and disability. This initiative is formed by a team of seven members, who combine experience in several areas: from public administration, open government, data science, computer science and engineering, social sciences, humanities, business and economics.

Perfectly integrated on the current open Government networkds, the CLARITY Project members keep bringing together stakeholder networks across Europe into an engaged and mobilised community that supports innovation in open eGovernment applications in order to reach the following global goals: 

The CLARITY project, through its online platform (https://clarity-csa.eu/), makes available to the community a set of open reports of this sector in Europe and invites those interested in contributing to the evolution towards an open electronic government to share its vision, collaborating in the improvement of the previous guide  (http://clarity.oeg-upm.net/blueprint/) and the application market that shows the open electronic government services channels in the EU (https://clarity-csa.eu/portfolio-clean-2cols).

In addition, it provides users with information and access to the European Futurium platform (https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/egovernment4eu), which contributes to the 2016-2020 Electronic Government Action Plan.

CLARITY Conference, the Open Government of the future

In 2018, from 14 to 15 February, the CLARITY Conference will take place in the Swedish city of Skellefteå: two days during which the technologies, regulations and knowledge needed to carry out open government initiatives will be explored and discussions on digital transformation and its benefits will be held.