New Year’s Resolution from the Swedish Public Sector?
Stockholm: 23 December 2009
The Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Swedish national representative in the European PSI Platform, has published a commentary by Fredrik Sand, urging the Swedish government to make a New Year’s resolution to animate the re-use of public sector information.
Fredrik Sand is responsible for IT issues with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. The title of his commentary is ‘Nyårslöfte från den offentliga sektorn?’ (New Year’s Resolution from the Public Sector?) (English translation below) (Swedish text online).
“To provide citizens and businesses access to the data they have had to submit, pay taxes to collect or otherwise entrusted by the public sector is an important policy measure which gives positive economic and social effects.
The combination of electronic data, information technology, internet, GPS and other technologies create rapid and dynamic development potential. Re-use of public data (often referred to as the Public Sector Information, PSI) can be used to create new services and new businesses.
In November, the Chamber of Commerce wrote to several ministries and suggested that they would allow their bodies to see how they could increase the re-use of data. The answer came back recently. Ministry of Finance's Secretary of State Dan Ericsson welcomes industry involvement in the issue and talks about the way forward. However, it is unclear whether the authorities really have a mandate.
Why is this important? The economic potential of PSI re-use is great. Although surveys are sometimes difficult to interpret, all point out that the economic potential of PSI is far from being fulfilled.
The value of government investment in the production of information in the EU in 2000 amounted to SEK 81 billion. It created a value in the information market, which amounted to 1139 billion, i.e. 14 times higher value. The corresponding ratio in the U.S. was 39 times.
What's the difference? The U.S. has long had an open access to public information. It has been reinforced under President Obama, among other things, has opened a website (with brief information about what data is available) and put new demands on the authorities. In Europe, Norway appears as a leading country in the area and provides better access to both mapping and weather data than in Sweden.
The services created will greatly benefit those who use them. In a British report published in 2006, it was reported that public information was worth 400 million pounds (which could be doubled with improved rules). Re-use of out society, a value of approximately another 48 percent (190 million pounds).
What is happening in Sweden? Overall, there has been a positive year. Following involvement from the Chamber of Commerce and the European Commission pointing out that Sweden is lagging behind in terms of having in place a correct transposition of the PSI Directive, the current Swedish Government has increased the pace in terms and is in the process of introducing changes. The Swedish transposition of the EU PSI Directive with correct transposition of the law is about 5 years behind.
Now, the Swedish government is on the road to improving the Swedish transposition of the PSI Directive with legislative changes forthcoming. However, much can be done by public authorities and municipalities without waiting for government and parliament.
The New Year - 2010 - has the potential to be an exciting one for Sweden if the players involved make New Year’s resolution to increase access to public data.”
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