Data stories

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the practice of collecting and analysing information gathered from open sources to produce actionable intelligence. This intelligence can support, for example, national security, law enforcement and business intelligence. OSINT investigates open (source) data collected for one purpose and repurposes it to shed light on hidden topics. The whole concept of OSINT sounds counter intuitive—using open data to reveal information that organisations want to keep secret. In the war in Ukraine, OSINT has been used to get a better idea of the movements of Russian

The 2021 edition of the Open Data Maturity assessment has shown peak performances across all European countries, with the EU27 average maturity score reaching 81%, i.e., 3 percentage points more than in 2020. Among the top performers of this edition, Estonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine were highlighted in the 2022 report “Open Data Best Practices: Estonia, Slovenia & Ukraine”. To explore their impressive growth in maturity score and encourage knowledge sharing across countries, a data.europe.eu academy webinar was recently organised. Although the Ukrainian open data team was not able to attend the

Data.europa.eu runs its annual EU Datathon to bring together open-data enthusiasts and application developers in a competition to show how open data can solve real-world problems. In 2021, the Datathon was divided along three “societal challenges”—long-term problems facing society that need to be solved. These challenges were about environmental sustainability and the European Green Deal; economic equity and an economy that “works for people”; and how to better digitalise Europe. Speaking with one of the winners of the competition, however, it becomes clear that gaps in open-data sets hold

Unlocking the potential of open data: European countries make progress Every year, European countries improve their open data practices Europe is making progress when it comes to open data. Our yearly Open Data Maturity assessment shows how European countries are performing in terms of open data by evaluating their level of maturity and tracking their progress over time. Participating countries use it as a benchmark to find areas for improvement and to compare themselves to others. Year after year the Open Data Maturity assessment measures 4 dimensions: policy, portal, impact, and quality

On a mission to shape our digital future The first ever EU Open Data Days took place from 23 to 25 November 2021. The event hosted EU DataViz, an international conference on open data and data visualisation, and the annual open data competition, EU Datathon. Why the EU Open Data Days? An increasing number of states and governments around the world recognise the value of open data and take initiative to publish open data sets. The European Union makes no exception. On the contrary, according to the European data strategy presented by the European Commission in February 2020, the EU ‘aims to be

To make scientific breakthroughs possible and tackle complex issues, we need collaborative and open science. The European Commission’s (EC) programme Horizon 2020 was created to fund projects contributing to scientific openness. How well has it achieved its goal? How open are the data and the research created by Horizon 2020 funded projects? What is Horizon 2020? The EC’s Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for research and innovation. It is succeeded by the Horizon Europe programme (2021 –2027). The Horizon programmes aim to produce world-class science

The data.europa academy can help you to become more knowledgeable about open data and to become more data literate. It provides you with knowledge and tools to publish high-quality open data that lives up to legal and technical standards, whether you are an expert or just getting started. Through the academy you can also discover how to create impact by re-using different types of open data. In the academy you can learn about publishing and finding open data, interoperability standards, regulatory and technical requirements, or recommendations. Additionally, the data.europa academy covers

In this data story, we look back on the developments that led to the establishment of the Digital Covid Certificate, and on how sharing of minimal data allowed us to regain freedom of movement. How did COVID-19 impact freedom of movement? Freedom of movement and residence for persons is one of the cornerstones of European Union citizenship, established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992. Since then, internal borders gradually faded and free movement of goods, services, and people became part of everyday life. Yet, to slow down the spread of coronavirus and protect the health and well-being of

This summer, severe floods have affected several European countries In early July, several countries in Europe have witnessed severe floods, causing serious damage. Multiple river basins in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, for which is common practice to store water and control the risk of floods, overflowed. Water poured out onto roads, villages, and cities. Germany and Belgium were hit particularly hard, with power outages, evacuations, and damage to infrastructure and agriculture. The Belgian Minister of Home Affairs, Annelies

The European Union has placed its efforts to respond to COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccines deliveries to EU countries have increased steadily and vaccination is gathering pace. According to last updated data from 5 July 2021, 62.7% of the EU adult population received at least one dose, with 481.6 million doses delivered in the EU. In a moment where science, solidarity, and cooperation between Member States and European Commission play a mandatory role, data has demonstrated to be the key element to design better responses to the pandemic. How does open data play an important role in the COVID-19