Watch the recording of the webinar ´Measuring open data impact in Europe`

On Friday 30 September 2022, the data.europa academy webinar on ´Measuring open data impact in Europe` took place. The webinar aimed at providing an overview of existing methods to assess the impact of open data in Europe, while also encouraging additional reflection on how impact can be better measured in the future.

With this goal in mind, the webinar started with an introduction on why open data impact should be measured and what is defined as ´impact` by the most commonly used methodologies, among which the Open Data Maturity (ODM). Particular emphasis was placed on the effort to update the ODM´s methodology to better grasp the challenge of measuring open data impact across Europe and better distinguish between measuring re-use of open data and the impact created through re-use. In the introduction, further research activities by data.europa.eu were mentioned, including the literature review on existing impact frameworks (to be published soon) and the Use Case Observatory that will be published in October.

The webinar continued with the presentations by representatives of Poland and France. Joanna Malczewska, Counselor for the Data Management Department of Poland´s Chancellery of the Prime Minister, shared the experience of Poland in implementing a cross-sectional survey. Conducted among 600 micro companies, SMEs, and large enterprises from different regions and sectors, it assessed the characteristics of the open data market in the business reality. Antonin Garrone, Product Owner at data.gouv.fr, Etalab-DINUM-Prime Minister's Office, presented the conceptual tool used by France to understand the four different levels of open data impact: the raw data on usage retrieved from the portal, the direct uses of open data (e.g., number of applications), the indirect uses (e.g., number of downloads of an application), and the externalities, like innovations and political effects.

Following these presentations, the country speakers were invited to a panel discussion. Some of the take-aways were the following:

• According to the French experience, when trying to incentivise re-users to share their references, it is important ´to focus on the product itself` – i.e., the open data portal – and give more visibility to the shares and visits. This is because many times re-users ended up not sharing their re-use cases just because they were not aware of the possibility to do so;
• For Poland, open data portals should ´not be used in a too intrusive way`, especially when it comes to silent re-users. Searching for leaders in the field of open data and leveraging open data enthusiasts´ networks to expand their outreach is also a better practice;
• Both Poland and France have collaborated with external partners, such as NGOs and non-for-profit organisations, to conduct open data impact assessments, but do not see it as a ´long-lasting solution` or one not causing ´conflicts of interest`. Thus, they both rely - to different extent - on internal team´s expertise, with France also advocating for international organisations to have a more important role in measuring open data impact.

Curious to learn more on the insights of this webinar? Watch the recording and find the slides and Q&As of the panel discussion on the dedicated data.europa academy section.

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