Poland ranks second in Europe in public data openness
Poland ranks second in Europe in terms of the openness of public data, according to the European Commission’s annual Open Data Maturity report.
It measures the progress of 35 European countries – all 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia and Ukraine – in making public sector information available and stimulating its reuse, in line with the EU’s open data directive.
The countries were evaluated in areas such as open data policy, the economic and social impact of open data, data quality and open data portals.
The top four countries were France (which scored 98.3%), Poland (97.9%), Ukraine (96.3%) and Estonia (96.2%). That quartet were named in the report as “trendsetters” in data openness. The worst performers were Bosnia and Herzegovina (14.3%), Albania (41.7%) and Malta (51.3%).
Poland’s score improved by three percentage points from last year, when it had come third in the ranking.
In three of the surveyed areas – openness policy, impact of open data and portal – Poland this year ranked first. Compared to last year, Poland’s performance improved in the areas of policy, the impact of open data and data quality.
The country was praised for cultivating data openness on a local level through several local open data portals. Additionally, local authorities are actively encouraged to publish their open data on the national open data portal dane.gov.pl.
The report also noted that Poland has “a network of open data officers” and that each government ministry appoints civil servants to oversee the implementation of the open data programme.
“Poland is a trendsetter in opening up data,” said Krzysztof Gawkowski, digital affairs minister in the new government that took power last month following eight years of rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.
“We are a strong European leader from whose knowledge and experience other countries can take a good example,” he added.