Francis Maude: Open data is uncomfortable, but we can’t turn back - ComputerworldUK.com

"Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, has said that open data and public sector transparency is both ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘awkward’ for government, but it shouldn’t turn back on it, as it drives innovation and growth... He said: 'Advances in technology have made data the entitlement of many, not just the privileged. Data is the new resource, it’s the new raw material of the 21st Century. Its value exists in holding government to account and enabling informed choices to be made by citizens...'  The UK government is investing heavily in transparency, where Maude recently launched a white paper that detailed the government’s drive to release data into the public domain for analysis and re-use.

Across UK government more than 9,000 datasets have been made available via data.gov.uk and the Cabinet Office plans to launch a £10 million Open Data Institute, headed up by inventor of the internet Tim Berners-Lee, to help businesses maximise the commercial value of open data.  The UK has also recently taken up its position as co-leader of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).  The OGP was formally launched in September 2011 by eight founding countries, including the UK, as a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.  It has since grown to 57 member governments, representing approximately two billion people, of which 46 governments have published action plans detailing more than 300 commitments to open government...  The government has also announced today that the Efficiency and Reform Group has developed a guide for other countries and administrations to help them build an online data portal, using the source code from data.gov.uk. Maude said: 'We want to see the equivalent of our data portal in places all over the world...' Finally, Maude issued a call to action for the media to work with the datasets that the government is releasing, so as to hold ministers and departments to account for inefficiency. He was firm in his views that the media should remain as open as possible... "