COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS: Open data An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance

"The central aim of the EU 2020 strategy is to put Europe’s economies onto a high and sustainable growth path. To this end, Europe will have to strengthen its innovative potential and use its resources in the best possible way. One of these resources is public data — all the information that public bodies in the European Union produce, collect or pay for. Examples are geographical information, statistics, weather data, data from publicly funded research projects, and digitised books from libraries. This information has a significant — currently untapped — potential for re-use in new products and services and for efficiency gains in administrations. Overall economic gains from opening up this resource could amount to €40 billion a year in the EU. Opening up public data will also foster the participation of citizens in political and social life and contribute to policy areas such as the environment....A recent study estimates the total market for public sector information in 2008 at €28 billion across the EU. The same study indicates that the overall economic gains from further opening up public sector information by allowing easy access are around €40 billion a year for the EU27. The total direct and indirect economic gains from PSI applications and use across the whole EU27 economy would be in the order of € 140 billion annually....The shift in the scientific process brought about by e-science will increase research productivity and prompt new and unexpected solutions to societal challenges. Furthermore, the cross-fertilisation between publicly funded research and the commercial sector in the ‘online European Research Area’ will increase the pace and impact of innovation....Member States can contribute to making open data a reality through the rapid adoption, transposition and implementation of the revised Directive on the re-use of public sector information. This will create the conditions for economic activity based on open data, and will stimulate cross-border applications. In addition, Member States should formulate and implement open data policies, taking up good-practice examples from across the EU. Support should for example be given to open data pilots and open data competitions, in particular those targeting the development of crossborder products and services....Open data strategy, key measures: ...Open data for science: [1] Communication and Recommendation to the Member States on scientific information, early 2012; [2] Expansion of the open access pilot for scientific publications to the whole of Horizon 2020 + pilot with open access to research data. Research and innovation: [1] Research and innovation projects relevant for open data, in particular through FP7, CIP and Horizon 2020, with funding for research infrastructures supporting open access to research articles and data; [2] Open data competitions (2012-2013) + improving access to capital for entrepreneurs in this area...."