Open Data Comes to Market

This report by Kieron O’Hara sumarises the discussion at the seminar 'Open Data Comes to Market: the Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Apps', which brought together developers, small businesses, government and other public sector officials to try to develop an understanding of what the ideal open data market would look like in the crime and criminal justice sector, in terms of the balances between public and private, small developers and large systems, and different ways of presenting data as accessible information.

Click here to read the report

Cloud Computing and Data protection reform

Blog post by Vice-President of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes

...After 12 months of intensive discussions and consultations, I am currently preparing the first in a series of concrete announcements related to the European Cloud Computing Strategy. I want Europe to be not only cloud-friendly but cloud-active: the right common rules could enhance cloud development, but the wrong choices on data protection would cut off lots of potential uses and business offerings before they’ve even started. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, I will announce a concrete project aimed at making it easier for buyers – particularly public sector buyers – to cooperate on requirement definitions and possibly pool their resources when procuring Cloud Computing services.

Click here to read Neelie Kroes' complete blog entry.

The European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015: Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable & innovative Government

The Commission is proposing a second eGovernment Action Plan which aims to realise the ambitious vision contained in the Declaration made at the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference (the ‘Malmö Declaration’). According to this ambitious vision, by 2015 European public administrations will be "recognised for being open, flexible and collaborative in their  relations with citizens and businesses. They use eGovernment to increase their efficiency and  effectiveness and to constantly improve public services in a way that caters for user's different needs and maximises public value, thus supporting the transition of Europe to a leading knowledge based economy." The Malmö Declaration sets out 4 political priorities for all European public administrations over the next 5 years.

Click here to read the Action Plan.

UK government business plan for improvement to procurement of ICT

The UK government business plan outlines the plan for improving procurement, creating a major projects office and a series of initiatives aimed at sharing services and saving costs on a cross governmental basis. 

Click here to read the business plan.

"Big Society" and new Technology

There is a debate going on about the extent to which the "Big Society", through which private enterprise is being encouraged to get involved in the provision of public services, and increased localisation, will require new technology. The idea is that more should be done at a local and community level but existing technology is purchased on a departmental basis in central government, and insufficiently flexible for multiple users and users from many locations.

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