Studies

This paper explores the concept of data governance, emphasizing the processes and systems involved in managing the availability, usability, integrity, and security of datasets. It discusses the balance between straightforward and complex data governance systems, particularly in the context of the European data strategy and the Open Data Directive. The Directive aims to make public sector information widely available for reuse, fostering open data ecosystems, but also recognizes the need for restrictions to protect sensitive information. The paper highlights the benefits and challenges of implementing these policies, noting the recent Data Governance Act's role in supporting more nuanced data governance decisions.

This report is the first in a series, the overall objective of which is to provide a better understanding of the links between the worlds of open government data, open science and education, which are tightly interrelated but seem to be often disconnected from each other in their current activities and recommendations. In this first report we characterise three types of (potential) users and providers of open data in the research and academic contexts. This characterisation is done by developing three ‘personas’ (a climate change researcher, a lecturer on data journalism and an open data officer).

This report examines the broad impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on businesses, governments, and the global economy, emphasising its transformative potential due to AI's capacity for large-scale data analysis. The study highlights the essential role of open data in AI development, noting that substantial data volume, variety, and veracity are crucial for effective AI training. It also explores the legal and policy challenges associated with AI, such as intellectual property rights, data protection, and product liability. The analysis draws on insights from a webinar series and offers guidance for policymakers, AI companies, and the general public on navigating these complex issues.

Portugal, Serbia and Slovakia achieved large improvements in their open data maturity according to the 2023 open data maturity assessment, which annually measures the efforts of European countries in making public sector information available and stimulating its reuse. This report on open data best practices investigates the drivers behind this growth through interviews with the open data teams of these three countries. It aims to facilitate the sharing of best practices, and formulates recommendations that may be beneficial for other countries seeking to enhance their open data maturity.

This report explores Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138, which complements the open data directive by establishing specific requirements for high-value datasets (HVDs). With the regulation taking effect on 9 June 2024, it focuses on highlighting best practices and strategies used by EU Member States in meeting these requirements. Based on interviews with representatives from seven Member States, the analysis identifies also common challenges, and it provides a roadmap for Member States to achieve compliance, aiming to improve public sector efficiency, economic opportunities, and cross-border collaboration. Key findings reveal varying degrees of adoption and challenges in HVD availability and use.

The Use Case Observatory is a research project initiated and performed by data.europa.eu, the official portal for European open data, managed by the Publications Office of the European Union. The purpose of this research project is to contribute to data.europa.eu’s broader goal of measuring the economic impact of open data across Europe over a span of 3 years (2022–2025). The first volume of the observatory was published in 2022.

The value open data can offer society has been a topic of interest for many years. Several studies have measured the economic impact of open data and public sector information; however, the results of the studies vary, and no consistent picture of the impact of open data has been developed. This study investigates structured methods and indicators to measure the impact of open data and the possibilities of basing these indicators on existing datasets.

This report focuses on the European Union’s open data policies, more specifically on Directive 2019/1024 (EU), also known as the open data directive, which defines the concept of high-value datasets (HVDs). An Implementing regulation that must be implemented by June 2024 lays down a list of specific high-value datasets in each of the six main categories identified in the directive: geospatial, Earth observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, company and company ownership, and mobility.
This study, proposes a methodological approach that facilitates the identification and homogenisation of HVDs, using selected examples of HVDs from three distinct categories. The insights of this report provide a roadmap for homogenising datasets across European countries and enhancing interoperability.

Data has become the infrastructure on which modern economies are built. Nowadays, data is vital in every sector, and businesses of every size increasingly depend on it. At the same time, the reuse of open data in Europe still requires further research and implementation efforts to fully express its potential for public and private value creation.
This paper provides a review of the research conducted over the past two decades on how information generated by the public sector and released in an open data format may purposely be re-used by for-profit and not-for-profit private entities.

At the core of the European data strategy are common European data spaces. By providing relevant data infrastructure and governance frameworks, these data spaces should facilitate the pooling and sharing of data within and across sectors in Europe. An online panel was held on 7 June 2023 to discuss the potential of data spaces for Europe’s citizens, businesses and economy and how this changing data-sharing landscape affects the role of data.europa.eu. This report captures the outcomes of the panel discussion.