Open Data Maturity Report 2022: Countries’ perspectives on their
open data policy
Publication Date/Time
2023-10-16T12:00:00+00:00
Monitoring actionable plans and practising iterative improvements make
for good open data policy implementation
The Open Data Maturity (ODM) report
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/open-data-maturity] provides
an overview of the progress achieved by European countries as they
push forward in creating the necessary conditions to make the most of
open data. The concept of open data maturity in Europe is considered
against four dimensions: quality, portal, policy, and impact.  

The European Union formulated its European data strategy
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/strategy-data] to
create a single market for data to ensure global competitiveness and
allow data to flow freely within the EU. At the same time, the
European data strategy aims to empower the society with data while
ensuring that European rules, such as privacy and data protection, are
fully respected. To achieve this, there is a wide range of policies to
be implemented; more precisely, open data policies
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/legislation-open-data]
that focus on generating value for the economy and society through the
reuse of public sector information. Both EU Member States and non-EU
countries implement national policies that make this happen. The open
data maturity (ODM) report
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/open-data-maturity] provides
an overview of the progress achieved by European countries in
implementing these policies and encouraging the reuse of public sector
information.  

This data story is the fourth in the 2022 ODM report series and dives
deeply into how countries are performing on the policy dimension. The
first data story
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/assessing-open-data-developments-across-europe-discover-open-data-maturity]
announced the publication of the report and presented the overall
results, the second data story
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/open-data-maturity-report-2022-countries-perspectives-open-data-quality]
discussed the quality dimension of the methodology and the third data
story
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/open-data-maturity-report-2022-countries-perspectives-their-open-data]
covered the portal dimension. 

To elaborate on the policy dimension, this data story features the
perspectives of Estonia, Italy and Poland (see Figure 1 on the
ranking of the country scores). These three Member States share
interesting best practices and reflections on their performance in the
policy dimension. In this data story you will first find an overview
of the policy dimension. Then it presents the successes and
improvement points of the three featured Member States, analysing
their common themes and differences. Lastly, it explores the specific
indicators of policy framework, governance of open data and open data
implementation in more detail, to highlight best practices. 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/policy22.png]
_FIGURE 1: Overview of the ODM policy dimension 2022 country scores _

THE POLICY DIMENSION IN A NUTSHELL 

In general, open data policies can be thought of as a system of laws,
regulatory measures, courses of action and guidelines established by
governments to promote the accessibility and sharing of public sector
data. The general purpose of open data policies is to remove barriers
to data access, encourage data reuse and enable innovation by allowing
citizens, businesses, researchers and other organisations to use the
data for various purposes. 

The European Commission’s policies
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/open-data] for data
focus on generating value for the economy and society through the
reuse of public sector information. Specifically, the open data
directive
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/legislation-open-data],
which had to be transposed into national law by July 2021, guides EU
Member States in making public sector data and publicly funded data
reusable. The directive specifically aims to stimulate the publication
of dynamic data and the use of application programming interfaces. It
also limits exceptions for charging reusers more than the
dissemination (marginal) cost of public data resources. Moreover, the
directive mandated an implementing act for high-value datasets
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-defines-high-value-datasets-be-made-available-re-use],
which followed in December 2022 (to be implemented by 2024) and made
six categories of data available for reuse with minimal legal and
technical restrictions and free of charge. Further to the open data
directive, other legislative measures aim to boost data sharing and
the single market for data but are not specific to open data. For
example, the Data Governance Act
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-governance-act]
aims to ‘increase trust in data sharing, strengthen mechanisms to
increase data availability and overcome technical obstacles to the
reuse of data’. Additionally, the proposed data act
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-act] would
introduce new access and use rights on data to make more data
available for use in line with EU rules and values. 

The policy dimension of ODM assesses the maturity of national open
data policies. It investigates national governance models and the
measures applied to implement policies and strategies in line with EU
open data policy objectives. This dimension assesses several criteria
grouped into three indicators, as follows. 

 	*
POLICY FRAMEWORK. The extent to which actionable open data policies
and strategies are in place to incentivise open data reuse in both the
public and private sectors. 

 	*
GOVERNANCE OF OPEN DATA. The extent to which public sector bodies have
governance models and regular coordination activities in place to
ensure the publication of open data at all government levels and to
support local and regional open data initiatives. 

 	*
OPEN DATA IMPLEMENTATION. The extent to which data publication plans,
implementing processes and monitoring measures are in place to enable
open data initiatives. 

Countries are scored on the basis of a list of questions relating to
each indicator, with the scores added together to provide a total for
the dimension (full details of the scoring are found in the ODM
methodology paper
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/method-paper_insights-report_n7_2022_0.pdf]).
The policy dimension was introduced in 2018 and is now the most mature
dimension of ODM, having the highest average score among the four
dimensions for the EU-27. The average score for the EU-27 has been
stable over the past three assessments, ranging between 85 % and
87 % in the 2020–2022 period (Figure 2). 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/policy18-22.png]
_FIGURE 2: Average percentage score for the EU-27 on the ODM policy
dimension (2018–2022) _

A COMMON STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS: CONTINUOUS MONITORING AND INCREMENTAL
IMPROVEMENTS 

The three featured Member States – Estonia, Italy and Poland –
all have their own approaches to open data policies. However, three
shared principles stand out: (1) adopting an iterative approach, where
processes are evaluated and consequentially improved in increments;
(2) creating actionable plans; and (3) continuously monitoring how
public sector bodies implement the open data policies and what kind of
support these bodies need. The individual Member States describe how
they implement these principles in distinct ways. 

Estonia opts for a collaborative approach to formulating open data
policies and strategies involving stakeholders. The national open data
team reflects that extensive stakeholder involvement from early in the
process is reaping rewards today. These stakeholders include
government organisations and representatives from the private sector.
This approach treasures inclusivity and transparency. The team
regularly consults and involves open data stakeholders and assesses
the open data landscape so that policy and strategy formulation are
targeted towards the needs of stakeholders and evolve with them. For
this purpose, government organisations are evaluated each year on
their data maturity. Similarly, private sector stakeholders are also
evaluated on their maturity to understand their requirements and
needs. The results from the data maturity studies feed into a yearly
action plan that follows through to implement the required changes.
Continuous monitoring is conducted alongside these efforts, requiring
the support and involvement of every level of government. 

To further improve its open data policy, Estonia is developing a new
methodology aimed at assessing the impact of open data on the economy
and society. The goal of this methodology will be to provide a
comprehensive view of which sectors are the most impactful when it
comes to open data. With the addition of this new methodology,
Estonian open data policy could then be fine-tuned to support the data
economy. 

Italy’s open data policy is based on the  Code of Digital
Administration
[https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2005-03-07;82!vig=],
which first came into force in 2005. The code is a single text that
unifies and organises rules concerning the digitalisation and digital
transformation of public administrations in relations with citizens
and businesses. This document also sets out a 3-year plan for such
administrations’ information and communication technologies and
includes an action plan for open data. The text and its accompanying
action plan served as the guidelines for defining technical rules to
transpose the open data directive into a national decree. The national
open data team believes this structured approach allows Italy to align
with EU legislation in a timely manner, and in some cases to be
proactive in anticipating new regulations. For example, an Italian
decree
[https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2012/02/27/12A01800/sg#:~:text=Gazzetta%20Ufficiale%20PRESIDENZA%20DEL%20CONSIGLIO%20DEI%20MINISTRI%20DECRETO,n.48%20del%2027-02-2012%20-%20Suppl.%20Ordinario%20n.%2037%29]
established in 2011 to define the technical rules for its
geo-topographic database put the country in a good position to
implement the regulation on high-value datasets as it relates to
geospatial data. 

In addition to their successes, the national open data team also
reflects on opportunities for improving the governance indicator.
Currently, responsibilities are distributed among several public
administrations, which  results in some overlaps and gaps in the
division of roles. A related improvement point would be the speedier
implementation of policy measures. Even though Italian national
policies are aligned with EU provisions, their execution incurs delays
in some cases. 

Poland puts its good performance on the ODM policy dimension down to
three key elements: consistency in action, committed leadership and
continuous evaluation. Consistency and commitment create a stable
environment where initiatives are carried out and the continuous
evaluation means that changes are implemented as needed. The Polish
national open data team also highlights that it goes beyond creating
the strategy and legal framework. It does this by also providing
stable financial support for implementation activities to help realise
its policy objectives. 

When it comes to improvements, the national open data team points out
that Poland’s Open Data Act
[https://dane.gov.pl/pl/knowledgebase/useful-materials/prawo] and
2021–2027 open data programme
[https://dane.gov.pl/en/knowledgebase/useful-materials/program-otwierania-danych-na-lata-2021-2027]
have been operational for 2 years. The progress of both the strategy
and the legal framework is now being evaluated, looking at the impact
they have had so far and searching for areas of improvement or
adjustment. The evaluation will determine the tasks of the national
open data team for the near future. One ambitious challenge the team
is considering is the expansion of its network of open data officers.
The legal obligation to appoint data officers applies only to
ministries, the Prime Minister’s Office and Statistics Poland; in
other institutions it is optional. In line with their policy
objectives, it would be desirable to extend the network of officers to
key central offices and to the local level, especially when it comes
to cities. 

THE POLICY DIMENSION IN DETAIL 

In addition to their self-reflections on their overall performance on
the policy dimension, the three featured Member States also share
their best practices on the three indicators that make up the policy
dimension. 

Figure 3 provides a detailed overview of countries’ scores for
each policy indicator in 2022. 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/indicators.png]
_FIGURE 3: ODM ranking on the three indicators of the policy dimension
in 2022 for all 35 participating countries _

 	*
POLICY FRAMEWORK 

The policy framework indicator analyses open data policies, strategies
and action plans from a national, regional or local perspective. The
indicator evaluates the measures in place to support access to and the
discovery of specific types of data (such as real-time data,
geospatial data and citizen-generated data) and incentives to promote
the reuse of open data. 

Estonia’s approach regarding the policy framework centres on its
open data action plan. This document, which is revised annually,
defines goals for the following 2 years. The goals cover several
areas, such as the public and private sectors and the research,
education and legal domains. Specific objectives are set out for each
area, along with key performance indicators for their evaluation and
activities needed to reach them. Additionally, Estonia has brought its
open data policies together into a single legal framework
[https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/107032023011?leiaKehtiv.]. 

In Italy, the Agency for Digital Italy [https://www.agid.gov.it/en]
was responsible for defining binding guidelines to implement the
relevant legislative decrees that transposed the open data directive
into national law. These guidelines aim to support public
administrations in the process of opening their data, covering topics
such as metadata profiles, licences and pricing, and data quality.
Regarding the licensing framework, the guidelines mandate using the
international open creative commons licences CC BY 4.0
[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/], CC0
[https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/] or
any equivalent or less restrictive open licence. Lastly, Italy is
currently drafting new guidelines on the topic of high-value
datasets. 

While implementing the open data directive, Poland also brought its
policy framework together under a single national legal framework
[https://dane.gov.pl/pl/knowledgebase/useful-materials/prawo] that
contains all the key elements, mechanisms and solutions regarding open
data. One advantage of collecting all the legal measures in one place
is that they do not need to be included in other strategic or
operational documents. Strategic and operational measures are in turn
collected in Poland’s 2021–2027 open data programme. The national
open data team reflects that this division results in an open data
ecosystem that is coherent and transparent. 

 	*
GOVERNANCE OF OPEN DATA 

The governance of open data indicators evaluates the structures in
place for the publication of open data by public sector bodies at all
governmental levels (i.e. national, regional and local). Specifically,
the indicator considers the appointment of civil service officials
dedicated to open data; the regular exchange of knowledge and
experience within the public sector; and regular exchanges between
public bodies as open data providers and academia, businesses and
citizens as open data reusers. 

Estonia has established a Data Governance and Open Data Competence
Centre [https://www.kratid.ee/en/tugi-andmehaldus], which has the
purpose of promoting an open data culture. The centre is coordinated
by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Other
stakeholders in the competence centre include Statistics Estonia, the
State Information System Authority and the Data Protection
Inspectorate. The centre offers support and advice to public
administrations on data management and assists them with aspects
relating to open data, such as identifying datasets, conducting
upskilling activities and organising events, among other functions. 

In Italy, the national guidelines include recommendations when it
comes to roles and responsibilities for open data initiatives run by
public administrations. However, the organisational autonomy of each
public administration does not allow for a common governance model.
Nonetheless, each public administration is advised to set up a special
working group dedicated to the data-opening process. The Office of the
Digital Transition Manager
[https://www.agid.gov.it/it/agenzia/responsabile-transizione-digitale%22%20/t%20%22_blank]
has an overarching role in matters relating to the digital
transformation of public administrations. 

Poland uses open data schedules
[https://dane.gov.pl/pl/dataset/1466,harmonogramy-udostepniania-danych-w-portalu-danych]
as a key element of its management system. The schedules for opening
data are prepared each year by open data officers. These schedules are
used as tools for incentivising and motivating the officers to
regularly review data in their institutions and for monitoring
quality. 

 	*
OPEN DATA IMPLEMENTATION 

The open data implementation indicator evaluates the level of
implementation of countries’ open data policies and strategies.
Specifically, the indicator assesses whether implementation plans and
monitoring measures are in place to enable open data initiatives. It
also evaluates the planned activities to support data holders in their
publication processes, along with training activities for data
literacy. 

Estonia monitors and evaluates the progress of national public sector
bodies regarding open data. This is done through a yearly data
maturity assessment
[https://avaandmed.eesti.ee/instructions/public-sector-impact-assessment-of-open-data-2022].
Based on this evaluation, the national open data team can offer
guidance to public sector bodies on various areas, such as strategic
coordination, data-management aspects, technical tools and
data-quality processes. 

To monitor open data policy implementation in Italy, the Agency for
Digital Italy has created a public dashboard
[https://avanzamentodigitale.italia.it/it/progetto/open-data] that
tracks the (increasing) number of open datasets on the national portal
and the number of administrations that publish open data. Another
dashboard [https://dati.gov.it/Monitoraggio/MonitoraggioDinamico]
measures the quality of metadata published on the national portal.
Moreover, a monitoring report
[https://monitoraggiopianotriennale.italia.it/dati2021/] on public
administrations implementing open data is published each year,
weighing the results achieved against the objectives of the 3-year
plan. 

The Polish open data team highlights the importance of data literacy
in achieving open data policy implementation. The team has prepared a
modular curriculum of open data courses
[https://dane.gov.pl/pl/article/wez-udzia-w-bezpatnych-warsztatach-o-otwieraniu-danych].
The curriculum draws on the experience of the open data team while
working with open data officers. The members of the team emphasise
that they make it a practice to use the experience and knowledge of
the team in this way, such as by writing reports, manuals, guidelines,
etc. The team treats popularising knowledge about open data as an
important element of its work. 

CONCLUSION 

The European data strategy emphasises the ambition of making the EU a
leader in a data-driven society. The open data directive specifically
stresses the potential of publishing and reusing data from public
sector bodies as a tool for boosting innovation and growth, such as
through the creation of value-added services and applications.
Overall, Europe does well on open data policy, in that this dimension
scores the highest on average for the EU-27 among the four dimensions
evaluated by the ODM report in 2022. Nonetheless, progress on ODM has
plateaued in recent years. 

Estonia, Italy and Poland offer examples of best practices from their
differing approaches to open data policy. All three featured Member
States actively support their policy objectives with actionable plans
and put mechanisms in place to monitor their progress. They emphasise
the importance of involving stakeholders in the policymaking process
and adapting to legislative and technical developments in the open
data landscape. Steps are typically taken iteratively, with a view to
achieving incremental improvements over time. These experiences and
insights can be a source of new ideas and practices for other
countries to use to help improve the implementation of their national
open data policies. 

Interested in learning more about open data maturity? Read the ODM
report
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/landscaping_insight_report_n8_2022.pdf]
for more insights into the 2022 assessment, view our interactive ODM
dashboard
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/open-data-maturity/2022] and
explore the related courses on the data.europa academy
[https://data.europa.eu/en/academy] website. If you are interested in
the other ODM dimensions, stay tuned for the next instalment in this
series. Keep up to date by subscribing to our newsletter
[https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter] and following data.europa.eu on
social media. 

Many thanks to Ott Velsberg (Estonia), Antonio Rotundo (Italy) and
Joanna Malczewska (Poland) for their contributions to this data story
on behalf of their national open data teams. 
