The benefits and value of open data
Publication Date/Time
2020-01-22T09:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
Building on the Digital Single Market efforts: open data in Europe
today
OPEN DATA IN EUROPE

Most national governments in Europe have developed an open data agenda
and have established open data portals supported by solid open data
policies and strategies. In 2019, an overall maturity of 74% was
achieved by the EU28 in terms of policy maturity (visible on the ODM
dashboard [/en/dashboard#2019]), indicating that Member States have
developed a strong foundation in terms of their open data policy
framework. The increased amount of national data portals is reflected
in the evolution of datasets available on the European Data Portal
[http://europeandataportal.eu/] (EDP). For example, in May 2016 the
EDP only had over 400,000 available datasets, which grew to over
890,000 in August 2019 and is expected to grow further.

 

BENEFITS OF OPEN DATA

The publication of data is driven by the belief that it brings
enormous benefits to citizens, businesses, and public administrations,
while at the same time enabling stronger co-operation across Europe.
Open data can bring benefits in various fields, such as health, food
security, education, climate, intelligent transport systems, and smart
cities - and is considered "an essential resource for economic growth,
job creation and societal progress
[https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/building-european-data-economy]".

Open data publication and re-use brings a variety of benefits,
including:

 	* Increasing the quality, efficiency, and transparency of public
services;
 	* Cost saving, as it is for example forecasted that national
governments of the EU28+ could save 1,7 billion euro by 2020
[/sites/default/files/edp_creating_value_through_open_data_0.pdf]; and
 	* Greater efficiency in processes and delivery of public services.
This can be illustrated by an example from the Netherlands
[https://openstate.eu/en/2016/11/dutch-ministry-of-education-launches-open-education-api/],
where the Ministry of Education publishes education-related data for
re-use. Since then, the number of questions they receive has dropped,
reducing workload and costs. The remaining questions are now also
easier for civil servants to answer because it is clear where the
relevant data can be found.

 

OPEN DATA AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
[/en/highlights/economic-benefits-open-data]

Open data does not only increase the performance and transparency of
public sector organisations, it is also seen as a driver for economic
growth. Open data can contribute to the development of innovative
services and the creation of new business models. Moreover, it can
help organisations make more informed decisions and better use of
existing resources. Businesses re-use open data to gather meaningful
insights, to develop applications, or to enhance existing products or
services.

Several economic benefits of the re-use of open data can be identified
- both direct and indirect benefits. Direct benefits are monetised
benefits that are realised in market transactions in the form of
revenues and gross value added, the number of jobs involved in
producing a service or product and cost savings. Indirect economic
benefits are, for example, new goods and services, time savings for
users of applications using open data, knowledge economy growth,
increased efficiency in public services, and growth of related
markets.

It is estimated that by 2020
[/sites/default/files/re-using_open_data.pdf], the market size for
open data has increased by 36.9%, to a value of 75.7 billion EUR. When
looking at the impact of open data in a specific sector, the public
sector is expected to have the highest share in terms of direct market
size with a value of 22.11 million EUR
[/sites/default/files/analytical_report_n9_economic_benefits_of_open_data.pdf].
The growth of the open data market size is also expected to trigger a
higher demand for skilled open data workers. It is forecasted that
open data has created 100,000 jobs by 2020
[/en/highlights/creating-value-through-open-data].

 

OPEN DATA AND SOCIETY

From a social perspective, open data enhances participation,
collaboration, and enables the inclusion of marginalised groups. It
enables citizens to make better-informed decisions but more
importantly, empowers citizens
[/en/highlights/empowering-people-open-data] to contribute to policies
that are better designed to their needs and to a more engaging
relationship with their governments.

Open data enhances citizen participation in traditional policymaking.
Due to the increased government transparency through open data,
citizens can study the data underlying reports and form their own
opinions. In addition, open data enables opportunities for
collaboration between the public and the private sector. Such
opportunities can, for instance, be initiated through hackathons where
interested parties work on specific challenges based on open data.
Furthermore, open data can help to facilitate the inclusion of certain
marginalised groups in society. For instance, in several cities new
applications and services have been developed to facilitate the
movement of disabled people through the re-use of open data, including
the location of car parks for disabled people or maps of accessible
public transport stations.

As discussed, there are benefits to open data, including its impact on
economic growth and society. The benefits of open data create
substantial value to society as a whole and impact your daily life.
Interested in learning more about the benefits and value of using open
data [/en/using-data/benefits-of-open-data]? Explore the EDP's news
archive [/en/what-we-do/articles-archive], feature articles
[/en/what-we-do/highlights-archive], and use cases
[/en/using-data/use-cases]! Aware of open data examples? Tell us your
story [/en/using-data/tell-us-your-story] and share them with us via
mail [/en/feedback/form?type=4], and follow us on Twitter
[https://twitter.com/EU_DataPortal], Facebook
[http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanDataPortal] or LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/10478056/admin/] to stay up to date!
