open data and the transparency of the lists of beneficiaries of eu regional policy in europe
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OpenCoesione Presentation at the DG Regio, 11th december 2013TRANSCRIPT
www.opencoesione.gov.it www.dps.tesoro.it/opencoesione
Open Data and the
transparency of the lists of
beneficiaries of EU Regional
Policy in Europe Department for Cohesion and Economic Development
European Commission – DG Regio
Brussels, 11th December 2013
www.opencoesione.gov.it
The benefits of Open Data
Increased openness of government datasets is emerging as a desirable feature across
Europe (Davies, 2010). Open data is seen as having significant economic potential,
generating user-driven innovation (Von Hippel, 2005) based on the availability of previously
restricted information and the creation of new firms. This can lead to the creation of new
public eServices that are both effective (user-centred) and efficient (harnessing capacity and
knowledge outside government).
In particular, Open Government Data (OGD):
(a) fosters transparency and accountability of policy choices;
(b) enables the creation of new public eServices by government, civil society and individual
citizens
(c) increases the collaboration across government bodies and with citizens and enterprises
(d) enables substantial improvements in the quality of policy making, in terms, e.g., of
quality of the spending and public value delivered;
(e) may contribute to creation of social capital through the enhancement of information
flows to and from the citizen (e.g. participation to public debates, crowdsourcing of relevant
information).
Open Data: 8 principles
1. Data Must Be Complete All public data are made available. Data are electronically stored information or
recordings, including but not limited to documents, databases, transcripts, and audio/visual recordings. Public data are data that are not subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations, as governed by other statutes
2. Data Must Be Primary Data are published as collected at the source, with the finest possible level of
granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms 3. Data Must Be Timely Data are made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data. 4. Data Must Be Accessible Data are available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes. 5. Data Must Be Machine processable Data are reasonably structured to allow automated processing of it. 6. Access Must Be Non-Discriminatory Data are available to anyone, with no requirement of registration. 7. Data Formats Must Be Non-Proprietary Data are available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control. 8. Data Must Be License-free Data are not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation.
Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed as governed by other statutes.
Open Data & Transparency EU rules and initiatives
Structural Funds Regulation 2007-13 Art. 7 Reg. 1828 8 dic 2006 “the managing authority shall be responsible for organising the publication, electronically or otherwise, of 1. the names of the beneficiaries, 2. the names of the operations and 3. the amount of public funding allocated to the operations”
Open Data & Transparency EU rules and initiatives
European Transparency Initiative (2008) - Indicative table
for setting the list of beneficiaries of EU Funding
An evaluation on the
transparency the lists of
beneficiaries of EU Regional
Policy
The goals
• To compare the performances of EU MS & Regions
• To explore the information-based strategies that
European public agencies are pursuing when
publishing their data on the web
A measure for Open Data quality
Open data and the “invisible
hand”
Public Value & Data divide
Government
should only
publish data in
open, machine-
readable
formats
Government
should consider
different users
needs (public
value) and
provide also
easy-to-access
data in
processed form
(data divide) Brito, 2007
Robinson et al., 2009
Dawes and Helbig, 2010
Gurstein, 2011
Harrison et al, 2011
Relevant literature on open data policy Current emerging practice focuses on the publication of open government data in machine-readable format,
possibly through open standards, so that the data can be easily re-used by citizens, enterprises and civil
society.
A measure for Open Data quality
Source: Dawes, S: Stewardship and usefulness: Policy principles for information-based transparency. Government
Information Quarterly 27, p. 381 (2010).
Stewardship principle includes the actions and policies addressed to data
“care” and aiming to ensure information quality and detail, reduce the risk of misuse,
and consequently increase users’ confidence in government information.
Usefulness includes the creation of added value for citizens and enterprises and
innovation promotion, thus understanding the actions aimed at making data more
accessible to end-users.
Relevant literature on open data policy
Data collection
• Web-based survey on availability and quality of the lists of
beneficiaries of EU Regional Policy
• All EU Countries and Regions included
• 434 Operational Programmes reviewed
[European Commission - DG Regional Policy database]
• Starting point: EC DG Regional Policy and DG
Employment dedicated portals
• Three waves: Oct 2010, Oct 2011, Oct 2012
• Now 2013/2014 survey is under way + back office topics
Methodology
Data collection Starting points of the web-based analysis
Stewardship
variables
October 2011
Usefulness
variables
Category) Characteristics) ETI) Italy)Av.)%)
EU27)Av.)%)
DB)consultation))through)masks))
Search'by'Fund'type'' ) 6) 29)
Search'by'Project' ) 10) 27)) Search'by'OP' ) 2) 31)
) Search'by'Axis/Object./Action' ) 6) 17)) Search'by'Beneficiary' ) 10) 13)) Search'by'Resources' ) 2) 8)
) Search'by'Territory/Area' ) 10) 19)) Search'by'Project'status'' ) 0) 7)
Advanced)Functions)
Georeferencing''through'maps' ) 0) 16)
) Visualisation'through'graphs'and'other'elaborations''
) 2) 17)
) Data'with'subEregional'detail' ) 29) 18)
'
October 2011
Co
nte
nt
(de
tail
of
info
) 2011 2012
Fin
an
cia
l d
ata
2011 2012
Qu
ali
ty o
f in
form
ati
on
2011 2012
Format
Format' Score'(%)'
PDF$ 16.7$
DOC$ 16.7$
HTML$(multiple$pages)$ 16.7$HTML$(single$page)$ 33.3$
XLS$ 50.0$
CSV$ 66.7$
XML,$JSON$ 83.3$Linked$data$model$supporting$format$(e.g.$RDF)$ 100.0$
$
A score is assigned that is directly proportional to the degree of
openness and re-usability of the information provided.
It takes into account whether the formats used are machine-
readable, open or, at best, consistent with the linked data model.
Fo
rma
t
2011 2012
Searc
h f
eatu
res
2011 2012
Ad
van
ce
d f
un
cti
on
s
2011 2012
Strategie di Open Data Evoluzione delle modalità di pubblicazione dei dati (2010-2012)
Fonte: Biagetti, M. e Reggi, L. Where does EU money go? Availability and quality of Open Data on the recipients
of EU Structural Funds, 2013. http://bit.ly/Zbu6nd
2010 2011 2012
[35%]
[23
%]
[38%]
[21
%]
[47%]
[13
%]
2011: 3 different publication strategies
19% 14%
24% 14%
57% 73%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
ERDF ESF
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
28% 11% 8%
20%
21% 27%
52% 67% 61%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
CONV RCE Cooperation
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
57% 44%
60%
41% 89%
12%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Decentralised Centralised
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
7%
54% 19%
23% 74%
22%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
EU15 NEW MSs
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
2011: 3 different publication strategies
23
Base category = PDF (logit model)
Pro
active s
trate
gy
Base categories: Centralization==0, fund=ERDF, objective=1, naz_reg
(model A)=cb | naz_reg (model B)=n, new_entries (model B)=0
2012: Relative probability of choosing a strategy
while being…
Verso un approccio bilanciato?
Usefulness
Ste
ward
ship
Closed data
Approccio
basato sulla
quaità dei dati
Approccio basato sulla
visualiz-
zazione
Approccio
bilanciato
Qualità +
fruibilità
Re-user centered
User centered
Regulation centered
Civic engagement
Some examples….
Usefulness
Ste
ward
ship
Re-user
centered
User centered
Regulation centered
DE
UK
ES
GR
BG EE
NL
DK
HU
IT
PL FR
Towards the
new
Regulation EU27 2007-2013 OPs
average level of
compliance with the
requirements set by the
Regulation for 2014-
2020
Challenges ahead and
open questions
• How do back office / information management issues influence
openness and transparency (e.g. centralization /
decentralization)?
• From open data to engagement
• citizen monitoring and evaluation
• gathering comments and suggestions
• What are the determinants of openness and transparency?
For example:
• Regional context (size, innovation, ICT diffusion, etc.)
• Transparency and Democracy indicators
• Economic variables (amount of funding, FEIs vs. grants..)
• Organizational variables
• How to compare the performance of EU27 Regions and Member
States? Open Government Index included as an indicator of
administrative capacity in Italy’s Partnership Agreement
New survey 2013/2014