Openness and data sharing among Parliament's priorities

The European Parliament's tenth parliamentary term started on July, a new institutional cycle that will run from 2024-2029. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was elected for a second term, after presenting to the European Parliament her Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029.

These guidelines set out the priorities that will guide European policies in the coming years. Among the general objectives, we find that efforts will be invested in:

1. Facilitating business and strengthening the single market.
2. Decarbonise and reduce energy prices.
3. Make research and innovation the engines of the economy.
4. Boost productivity through the diffusion of digital technology.
5. Invest massively in sustainable competitiveness.
6. Closing the skills and manpower gap.

In this article, we will explain point 4, which focuses on combating the insufficient diffusion of digital technologies. Ignorance of the technological possibilities available to citizens limits the capacity to develop new services and business models that are competitive on a global level.

Boosting productivity with the spread of digital technology

The previous mandate was marked by the approval of new regulations aimed at fostering a fair and competitive digital economy through a digital single market, where technology is placed at the service of people. Now is the time to focus on the implementation and enforcement of adopted digital laws.

One of the most recently approved regulations is the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, a reference framework for the development of any AI system. In this standard, the focus was on ensuring the safety and reliability of artificial intelligence, avoiding bias through various measures including robust data governance.

Now that this framework is in place, it is time to push forward the use of this technology for innovation. To this end, the following aspects will be promoted in this new cycle:

• Artificial intelligence factories. These are open ecosystems that provide an infrastructure for artificial intelligence supercomputing services. In this way, large technological capabilities are made available to start-up companies and research communities.
• Strategy for the use of artificial intelligence. It seeks to boost industrial uses in a variety of sectors, including the provision of public services in areas such as healthcare. Industry and civil society will be involved in the development of this strategy.
• European Research Council on Artificial Intelligence. This body will help pool EU resources, facilitating access to them.

But for these measures to be developed, it is first necessary to ensure access to quality data. This data not only supports the training of AI systems and the development of cutting-edge technology products and services, but also helps informed decision-making and the development of more accurate political and economic strategies. As the document itself states " Access to data is not only a major driver for competitiveness, accounting for almost 4% of EU GDP, but also essential for productivity and societal innovations, from personalised medicine to energy savings”.

To improve access to data for European companies and improve their competitiveness vis-à-vis major global technology players, the European Union is committed to "improving open access to data", while ensuring the strictest data protection.

The European data revolution

"Europe needs a data revolution. This is how blunt the President is about the current situation. Therefore, one of the measures that will be worked on is a new EU Data Strategy. This strategy will build on existing standards. It is expected to build on the existing strategy, whose action lines include the promotion of information exchange through the creation of a single data market where data can flow between countries and economic sectors in the EU.

In this framework, the legislative progress we saw in the last legislature will continue to be very much in evidence:

• Directive (EU) 2019/1024 on open data and re-use of public sector information, which establishes the legal framework for the re-use of public sector information, made available to the public as open data, including the promotion of high-value data.
• Regulation (EU) 2022/868 on European Data Governance (EDG), which regulates the secure and voluntary exchange of data sets held by public bodies over which third party rights concur, as well as data brokering services and the altruistic transfer of data.
• Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 on harmonised rules for fair access to and use of data (Data Act), which promotes harmonised rules on fair access and use of data in the framework of the European Strategy.

The aim is to ensure a "simplified, clear and coherent legal framework for businesses and administrations to share data seamlessly and at scale, while respecting high privacy and security standards".

In addition to stepping up investment in cutting-edge technologies, such as supercomputing, the internet of things and quantum computing, the EU plans to continue promoting access to quality data to help create a sustainable and solvent technological ecosystem capable of competing with large global companies. In this space we will keep you informed of the measures taken to this end.