Open data Program

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Open data policy in Finland  Long history of Open Government  Freedom of Information Act in 1766 in Sweden-Finland  Act on the Openness of Government Activities in 1999  EU open data policy directives  on the Re-use of Public Sector Information (2003/98/EC, ”PSI Directive”) since 2003, New Directive 2013  on Establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information (INSPIRE) in the EU since 2007  In 2011 Finnish Government resolution on enhancing the availability and the re-use of digital information assets of the public sector  Major Government Agencies have opened their data since 2012  including National Land Survey, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and many others... 2 Photo: Slugger Consults

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Open Data – a Milestone in History towards Open Government in Finland  The World´s First Freedom of Information Act in Sweden-Finland in 1766  Freedom of writing and the press  The abolishment of political censorship and the gaining of public access to government documents  The principle of publicity has since remained central in the Nordic countries  (the US Freedom of Information Act in 1966)  Act on the Openness of Government Activities (The right to information on government activities) in 1999  The principle is transparency  The right of the person whose interest or right is in question is more extensive than that of any other party  Restrictions on access: to preparatory information, secrecy only on the basis of an Act  The authorities are obliged to inform the public of their activities 3 Antti Chydenius (

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Open data  Re-usable for commercial and non- commercial purposes  Legally (no restrictions for re-use, open data licence)  Technically (machine-readable format)  Free-of-charge 4

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Shaping Open Data Policy in Finland  The Principle of joint use of information since 1990s  Several working groups by ministries have supplied their proposals (on technical issues, availability, charging policy) High Level Policy Commitment  2011 the Finnish Government issued a resolution on enhancing the availability and the re-use of the digital information assets of the public sector. This resolution addresses open data policy, technical and legal means of opening public sector data and measures to stimulate the development on applications and services built on open data resources  Improving the PSI availability and reuse is included as a strategic measure in the Government´s program to develop possibilities for new business and innovative services  2012 Public Sector ICT –strategy: Open Government Data one of the main goals  2013 Membership in the Open Governmen Partneship Intitiative. 5

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland The Targets of the Open Data Policy  Positive Economic Impact on the Society as a whole: new business, more tax income, new innovative services  Increasing Democracy and Promoting Transparency in the Society  Improving the Data Quality and the Efficiency of the Public Sector 6

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland The Principles and Processes on Opening of the Public Sector Data  The public sector data will be opened stage by stage in a systematic way  The principle: The public sector data should, in principle, be provided free of charge  A strong tool: Assessment of the budgetary impact of opening the data is done in the context of the frame budget formulation procedure (four years). The ministries are instructed to develop their plans to open data as a part of the information architecture work.  Adapting the legislation and practices to comply with the PSI Directive and the Open Data Strategy 7

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland What has been done? Some examples  14 Helsinki Region cities and municipalities have an open data portal since 2011www.hri.fi  Topographic data made available on 1 May 2012: The National Land Survey (NLS) has made its topographic datasets available to the public and to companies to be used freely and free of charge.  The weather and climate data by the Finnish Meteorological Institute since 2013  Several Environmental Information Resources since 2008  Digitraffic, real time and historical information and data about the traffic on the Finnish main roads. The service is provided by the Finnish Transport Agency, and it is addressed for organisations developing information services or working with traffic management and planning  Several Ministries and government agencies have supported the yearly open data applications and ideas competition Apps4Finland (  Several ministries have funded economic and legal studies on policy implications on opening public sector data, i.a. the Research Institute of Finnish Economy (ETLA) studies  The national agency for innovation and technology Tekes funds a research project on linked data by Aalto University. 8

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Opening the Data of the Public Sector will go on: Open Knowledge Program  Developing the practices, such as the general terms of use and licences (Public Administration Recommendation is in the making)  Clarifying the present varying practices of the charging according to the principles  The Public Sector agencies will be asked and guided to evaluate their information resources from the point of view of the Open Data as a part of their information architecture and the frame budget formulation procedure  Developing structures and Information Architecture, Common Metadata model for Open Data, Common Public Sector data portal, Supporting services and training  Developing methods to monitor the development and the impacts of Open Data 9

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland 10 Open Data Program The Principles and Criteria Legislation Economy Instructions Promoting the Re-use of Data The Process to Open Data Structures, Services and Practicies to help the re-use of Open Data Education and Training Research, Development and Innovations Developing Methods to evaluate and monitor Benefits and Risks Areas for the National Cooperation and Collaboration

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Open Data Policy is based on Collaboration and Learning  Collaboration by ministries  Activities by agencies: state, municipalities…  Competitions, Apps4Finland –contest  Research, universities and schools  Private companies  Open Data Communities, NGOs 11

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Challenges  Building the open data and information infrastructure, which should be highly standardized and interoperable and at the same time highly flexible to respond to user needs  Tension between control and innovation (issues relating to legislation, quality of information, economic circumstances)  Building Knowledge Culture 12

pp.kk.vvvv Osasto Finland Open data policy and strategy to develop Finland towards a knowledge society 13 Public data, information and knowledge: open, easily accessible and efficiently for use by citizens, companies, public sector services, decision making and all the society as a whole. Open Government and sharing of data, information and knowledge. Open, interoperable and standardized information infrastructure and information management

Thank You! Anne Kauhanen-Simanainen