Looking back at European Week of Regions and Cities 2019
Publication Date/Time
2019-10-16T09:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
The European Data Portal presented their new report on rural open data
in Brussels
EUROPEAN WEEK OF REGIONS AND CITIES

The European Week of Regions and Cities
[https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/home_en] (EWRC) is an annual
four-day event where experts, academics and officials from regions'
and cities' administrations across Europe can meet and exchange best
practices and information on regional and urban development. The event
acts as a knowledge sharing platform for communication on the
development of EU cohesion policy and to raise awareness on the
decision-making process for regions and cities in EU policy making.

This year, the event was held at SQUARE - Brussels Convention Centre
[https://www.square-brussels.com/en/] and had over 9,000 attendants,
more than 1,000 speakers and 300+ sessions. There were five main
themes
[https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/sites/ewrc/files/euregionsweek_programme_2019.pdf]
during the week:

 	* The Future of the EU and the roles of the Regions and Cities;
 	* A smarter Europe;
 	* A Europe Closer to Citizens;
 	* A greener Europe; and
 	* A more socially integrated Europe.

 

EUROPEAN DATA PORTAL AT EWRC 2019 

This year again, the European Data Portal [/en] (EDP) team was present
throughout EWRC. The team exchanged insights with visitors at the EDP
stand and promoted the use and re-use of open data across Europe.
Moreover, we introduced our report on rural open data and presented
the EDP in the speech "The European Data Portal (EDP) for accessing
public open data across Europe
[https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/programme/sessions/684_en]". The
speech focused on:

 	* how the EDP supports data providers in publishing data and we
provided examples of use cases to inspire people on how they can open
data can be used and re-used;
 	* the first trend analysis of the Open Data Maturity 2019 Report
that will be published in early December 2019;
 	* the EDP's research on the economic impact of open data across
Europe that will be embodied in a report to be published in February
2020; and
 	* the concept of rural open data that will be defined and discussed
in an analytical report for publication in November 2019.

 [https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/2019-10-16-week_of_regions-2019_01.png]
FIGURE 1: ELINE LINCKLAEN ARRÏENS PRESENTING THE EDP

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/2019-10-16-week_of_regions-2019_02.png]
FIGURE 2: ESTHER HUYER INTRODUCING THE EDP'S RESEARCH FINDINGS ON
RURAL OPEN DATA

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/2019-10-16-week_of_regions-2019_03.png]
FIGURE 3: MARIT BLANK SHARING THE FIRST RESULTS OF THE EUROPEAN OPEN
DATA MATURITY 2019 REPORT

 

The EDP team also hosted an interactive workshop "Open data and rural
regions and cities" where we discussed the concept of rural and
introduced the current research we have conducted on rural regions and
cities across Europe to participants from across Europe. We discussed
recommendations to support rural open data in rural. In these
discussions, participants explored:

 	* the importance of education in learning digital literacy and
skills;
 	* data collection and re-use at a local, regional and national
level;
 	* support from the local to government level in opening rural data;
 	* the importance of sharing best practices;
 	* to create a network where local champions can share their
knowledge; and
 	* the value of datasets from rural sectors, such as on agriculture,
forestry and fishery.

The additional insights gathered will conclude the report "Enabling
Smart Rural" that will be published in November 2019.

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/2019-10-16-week_of_regions-2019_04.png]
FIGURE 4: ESTHER HUYER MODERATING AND DOCUMENTING THE WORKSHOP
DISCUSSION

For more open data related events explore the European Data Portal's
calendar [/en/what-we-do/calendar]. Share open data events with us via
mail [/en/feedback/form?type=4] and follow us on Twitter
[https://twitter.com/EU_DataPortal], LinkedIn
[http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanDataPortal] to stay up to date!

 
