Notes from “Open Government in Europe” workshop, Budapest, 19th May 2011
A few weeks ago we had a small workshop on “Open Government Data in Europe” in Budapest. The meeting brought together representatives from the European Commission, the Hungarian government, and other EU member states to discuss the current state of open government data across Europe. Discussions included legal, technical and economic aspects of running an open government data initiative.
We started out with a brief introduction from myself and David Kitzinger, co-founder of Szabad Adat, a new open data organisation in Hungary. Then we went onto presentations to introduce the idea of open data, to give an overview of the state of play in Europe, and to look in more depth at open data in Poland:
- Open Data: What, Why and How – Dr. Rufus Pollock, Open Knowledge Foundation (UK)
- Open Data in Europe – Richard Swetenham, Head of Unit, European Commission (EU)
- Open Data in Poland – Igor Ostrowski, Advisor to the Prime Minister, Chancellery of the Prime Minister (Poland)
Then we had a discussion about “Challenges and Opportunities for Open Government Data in Europe” with the speakers, representatives from Hungarian government and other participants at the meeting.
Then we went onto several presentations focusing on local open data – particularly at city level.
- Open Data in Amsterdam – Katalin Gallyas, City of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Open Data in European Cities – Esteve Almirall, Project Coordinator, EU Open Cities Project (Spain)
Finally we had a closing discussion on what kinds of data could be opened up at city level, how to get started, and how to engage with developers and reusers of the data. We discussed how to set up a data catalogue, how to put data into PublicData.eu and encouraged public bodies to enter datasets into the Open Data Challenge.
The event is organised by the Open Knowledge Foundation and supported by EVPSI, HUNAGI, and LAPSI. EurActiv.hu was the official media partner for the event (see their post about the event here).
Some photos from the workshop are available here:
If you’re interested in keeping in touch with other people interested in open government data in Hungary, you might like to join our okfn-hu mailing list.
