The economic impact of open data in Estonia

On the basis of the Economic Impact of Open Data study published last year, the authors and EDP researchers Esther Huyer and Laura van Knippenberg forecast that the potential open data market size for Estonia could reach a total of €445 million by 2025. This is an optimistic scenario based on the rapid progress Estonia has demonstrated in supplying and re-using open data, further confirmed by how the country jumped from 27th to 5th place in the European Open Data Maturity index over the last two years.

To unlock this potential, collaboration between the public and the private sector is essential, and different types of data should be combined. In addition, the authors encourage Estonia to increase awareness and capacity around data re-use, and to examine the socio-economic impact of open data and knowledge sharing in cooperation with other European counties.   

The benefits of open data can not always be directly observed. They translate more indirectly in resource usage and time efficiency gains, environmental sustainability, or improved health of citizens. By using open real-time traffic data for instance, ambulance’s response times can be shortened, and lives saved.

Find this and other examples of the impact that open data creates for Estonia in the full article.

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