Spain, among the European leaders in open data

The European Data Portal, data.europa.eu, has just published its Data Maturity Index, an index that assesses the level of maturity of European countries in terms of open data. For its elaboration, an evaluation survey has been carried out and has been completed by 35 countries, including the 27 Member States of the European Union, three countries of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and five candidate countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia and Serbia and Ukraine).  

In this year's edition, Spain obtained a score of 95% out of 100%. This places it in fifth place overall and in fourth place if only European Union (EU27) member countries are taken into account. This figure represents an improvement of three percentage points over last year's score and places Spain 12 points above the EU27 average (83%).  

The top positions in the ranking are occupied by France, Poland, Ukraine and Estonia. 

Above the EU27 average in all dimensions analyzed 

The index is accompanied by a report containing the analysis carried out and an overview of the good practices applied in Europe. In the case of Spain, it is above the EU-27 average in the four indicators analyzed:  

• Policy, focused on the open data policies of the different countries. It analyzes the existence of national governance models for open data management and the measures that have been applied to implement existing strategies. This is the indicator in which Spain obtains a higher score, with 99% compared to 89% in the EU27. The report highlights how the country's national open data strategy helps promote the openness of public information through innovative and structured actions in collaboration with public and private partners. Among other issues, the strategy includes the objective of identifying business models and business success stories to share successful practices. The report also highlights the existence of various digital strategies that complement specific policies on open data, such as the national artificial intelligence strategy, which includes provisions related to the availability of open data for the operation and training of artificial intelligence systems. 

• Impact, which analyzes the activities undertaken to monitor and measure both the reuse of open data and the impact created by such reuse. Traditionally, this has been the least mature dimension across Europe. Nevertheless, Spain scores 96% compared to 77% in the EU27. The best results are achieved in measuring the impact of open data use cases in the environmental, economic and political sectors.  

• Portal, focused on evaluating the functionalities of the national platform that allow users to access open data and help drive interaction within the community. With 96% compared to 85% in the EU27, Spain stands out in the use of analytical tools to understand user behavior, and in the implementation of strategies to ensure the sustainability of the portal and increase its visibility, including presence in social networks. It also highlights the existence of a private area that allows editors to act according to the feedback received. 

• Quality, which examines the mechanisms for ensuring the quality of (meta)data. Here Spain scores 88% compared to 82% in the EU27. Spain's score is driven by compliance with the DCAT-AP standard (providing educational materials for publishers), the existence of a systematic approach to ensure that metadata is up to date, and the wide range of data offered, both historical and current. 

The report also measures how EU27 countries are progressing in the implementation of the implementing regulation on high-value datasets. In this section, Spain ranks ninth, with 68% implementation. In general, Member States are making more progress on geospatial and statistical datasets. Progress is also being made on the underlying technical and legal requirements.  

Overall recommendations 

The report includes a number of recommendations for Spain, among other countries, including encouraging the development of initiatives at the local and regional level, fostering better coordination between teams, and activating the network of open data officers to implement monitoring activities within their organizations. Emphasis is also placed on the need to promote existing open data courses and promote new training materials, paying special attention to developing strategic awareness of the reuse and impact of open data.

Overall, the report shows good progress in open data across Europe. Although there are areas for improvement, the European open data landscape is consolidating, with Spain at the top of the table.  

In 2024, new waves of implementation of the European data strategy will present national teams with new challenges. On the one hand, they will have to redouble their efforts to inform citizens of the new data sources arising from initiatives such as the Data Governance Act and the data spaces. In this sense, coordination will be necessary between the new figures arising from these legislative developments and the traditional world of open data, enhancing the obvious synergies between the two to boost the data economy and collectivize the value generated.