European Commission launches open data strategy

Neelie Kroes expects it to deliver €40bn to EU economy each year

The European Commission (EC) has launched a new open data strategy that will see a vast number of datasets owned by public authorities released to the public.

The initiative is expected to deliver a €40bn (£34bn) boost to the EU's economy per annum; the EC will also make a further €100m (£85m) available to the project per year to 2013.

The EC anticipates that the data will see businesses make money from new smart phone apps that may include maps, real-time traffic information or price comparison tools for example.

"We are sending a strong signal here...Your data is worth more if you give it away, so start releasing it now," said Neelie Kroes, Commission vice president.

"Taxpayers have already paid for this information; the least we can do is give it back to those who want to use it in new ways to create jobs and growth," she added.

The EC is intending to update the 2003 directive on the reuse of public sector information by 2013, to ensure that member states have 18 months to implement the legislation into national law.

The revised directive will include the following alterations:

• All documents must be made available by public sector bodies so they can be reused for any purpose, unless protected by third-party copyright.

• Public sector bodies will not be allowed to charge more than costs incurred by the individual request for the data. It is expected that most data will be offered for free.

• All data must be provided in commonly used formats.

In addition, the EC will make its own data public through a data portal. This portal is currently in development and testing and is expected to launch in spring 2012.

The UK is making strides of its own in releasing public data for commercial reuse following announcements made by chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn Statement.

Osborne plans to create an Open Data Institute, lead by Professor Tim Berners-Lee and based in Tech City, Shoreditch. The institute will receive £10m of funding over five years and aims to help businesses exploit opportunities created by public data.

Met Office data has already been made available, data from the Land Registry will be released in March 2012, Department for Transport data will be made available in April 2012 and the NHS will release its data in September 2012.