News and highlights

The European Commission’s Cloud and AI Development Act is designed to address Europe’s long-recognised shortage of cloud and high-performance computing capacity, an issue which directly effects the availability and reuse of open data. According to the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), the EU currently trails behind the United States in data centre capabilities despite having comparable GDPs and relies heavily on non-EU providers for cloud services. This dependency risks competitiveness but also the long-term sustainability of Europe’s open digital ecosystem. The act proposes

Every year on Tuesday, 7 April, World Health Day draws global attention to pressing health challenges and the actions needed to address them. In 2026, the day is marked under the theme ‘ Together for health. Stand with science’ , highlighting the role of scientific evidence and collaboration in protecting health worldwide. Led by the World Health Organization (WHO) , the annual observance serves as a reminder that effective health policies depend on reliable data, shared knowledge, and trust in science. This year’s theme launches a year‑long campaign that focuses on how science‑based

In March, the data.europa academy hosted two webinars that approached open data from different perspectives yet shared a common focus on societal impact. One session was organised in the context of Open Data Day 2026 and examined open data as a public good for territorial development. The other marked the start of a new webinar series on open data, academia, and ethics. Together, these webinars offered participants a broad view of how open data informs policy, research, and public trust. Here is a recap of how the sessions unfolded. The first webinar, ‘ Open data as a public good: evidence

How can skills and labour‑market data be shared more effectively across Europe? This question is at the heart of the upcoming data.europa academy webinar ‘European data spaces in practice: insights from the Data Space for Skills’ , taking place on Friday, 10 April, from 10:00 to 11:00 CEST. The online session is open to everyone interested in European data spaces, skills intelligence, and evidence‑based policymaking. DS4Skills (Data Space for Skills) is a European initiative that aims to improve access to skills‑related data across borders and sectors. By bringing together universities

The first quarter of 2026 has brought on a diverse set of data stories to the European Data Portal, each highlighting how open data helps us understand social trends, mobility behaviour, local environments, and demographic changes across Europe. From education and accessibility to city safety and ageing, these publications offered fresh perspectives on the role of data in everyday life. We began the year with a closer look at Erasmus+ mobility , exploring how open data reveals travel patterns, popular destinations, and long-term opportunities created through cross-border learning. This was

Public procurement accounts for significant public spending in the EU, yet the data behind these processes has long been fragmented and difficult to access. The EU’s Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS) was created to change this by offering a single, EU-level, entry point to procurement-related information which helps policymakers, public buyers, and businesses access comparable, high-quality data in one place. This new service supports a more competitive, fair and transparent internal market by making procurement activities easier to analyse and understand. The PPDS consolidates procurement

What would it take for every person in Europe to benefit from digital life, safely and fairly? The EU’s Digital Decade policy programme 2030 sets out a common roadmap for Europe’s digital transformation, with shared objectives and a cooperation mechanism between the European Commission and Member States. It is designed to capture the opportunities of going digital, like better online public services, while tackling challenges such as the digital divide, cybersecurity risks and disinformation. The programme focuses on four areas that shape everyday life: a digitally skilled population, secure

Slovenia’s national open data portal, podatki.gov.si , serves as the central online platform for accessing public sector information across the country. Managed by the Ministry of Public Administration and supported technically by the Ministry for Digital Transformation , the portal brings together datasets from many Slovenian agencies into one accessible location. It is designed to help users explore, reuse, and combine open data for research, applications, visualisations, and public value projects. The portal provides a wide range of functionalities and tools that make it easy to find and

The International Day of Happiness, observed each year on Thursday, 20 March, highlights happiness and well-being as universal human goals. Established by the United Nations , the day encourages governments, organisations, and citizens to reflect on how social, economic, and environmental factors shape quality of life. Across Europe, this conversation increasingly relies on data to understand what well-being means in practice and how it can be improved. At a global level, initiatives such as the World Happiness Report bring together data from more than 140 countries to explore trends in life

Understanding how data shapes research conclusions is becoming increasingly important in an academic landscape influenced by digital technologies and AI-supported methods. On Friday, 27 March 2026, from 10:00 to 11:00 CET, the data.europa academy will host the first episode of its new webinar series, ‘ Open data, academia, and ethics: fostering trust through data-based reasoning ’. This session introduces the foundations of academic integrity in a data-driven environment and explores why transparency alone is not enough to ensure trustworthy research. The webinar will feature insights from