Presentation given at CeDEM 2017 Conference Krems

2. Click to edit Master title style
Open Data as Enabler of Public
Service Co-creation:
Exploring the Drivers and Barriers
Maarja Toots, Keegan McBride, Tarmo Kalvet, Robert Krimmer
CeDem’17, Krems
17 May 2017

3. The promise of open data
Open (government) data:
 New data-driven services
 Open government:
• open data, open processes
• public scrutiny & transparency
• public involvement & participation
 Co-creation/co-production:
• user perspective
• co-creation of value
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

4. A vision for public services
„Such an open government model builds
on open data, open services and open
decisions. The provision of public services
results in the creation of public value.
Empowering individually and collectively
all actors that play a role in the
constitution of society and sharing
resources between all stakeholders will
contribute to the creation of public value.“
European Commission, DG CONNECT 2013
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

5. The gap
• From vision to practice
• From what to how
• What factors affect our ability to use
open data for the co-creation of public
services?
• Focus on drivers (enablers) and barriers
(challenges)
• Joining two concepts: open data + co-
creation
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

6. Research methodology
• Study within the OpenGovIntelligence
project (Horizon2020)
• Literature review:
 open data, open government data, data-
driven services, service co-production/
co-creation, public sector innovation
 academic literature + policy reports
• Survey of experts and practitioners:
 May-June 2016
 63 respondents from 6 countries
(Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Ireland,
Lithuania, UK)
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

7. Survey respondents
• 63 responses
 34 public administration representatives
 29 business, civil society & research actors
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017
Nat gov
35%
Reg gov
6%
Loc gov
11%
NGO
11%
Business
24%
Research
13%
Nat gov
Reg gov
Loc gov
NGO
Business
Research

8. Survey questions
• 11 questions (mostly open) about:
 Experience using open data
 Experience with co-creation of public
services using open data
 Drivers and barriers to the use of open
data for service co-creation
 Organisational capacities & needs related
to open data-driven co-creation
 Examples of successful & unsuccessful
policies and initiatives promoting open
data innovation
 Suggestions for new policies/initiatives
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

9. Survey results
• Four broad categories of drivers and
barriers:
1) data and technology;
2) stakeholders;
3) organizations;
4) regulations and policies
• Drivers often opposite of barriers
• Many drivers & barriers cited in
literature reiterated
• Open data + co-creation = further
complication of the barriers related to
both
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

10. Barriers Drivers
Data and technology
B.DT1 - Lack of availability of open data D.DT1 - Availability of open data
B.DT2 - Lack of data quality, fragmentation of
datasets
D.DT2 - Provision of high-quality easy-to-use
datasets, provision of datasets of key importance
B.DT3 - Messy data formats and lack of metadata D.DT3 - Harmonization of data and metadata
B.DT4 - Missing infrastructure to support open data D.DT4 - Open Data Portals
Stakeholders (perceptions, attitudes, culture)
B.S1 - Political environment, political will D.S1 - Citizen demand and visionary policy-makers
B.S2 - Lack of awareness of open data and benefits D.S2 - Awareness of open data and benefits
B.S3 - Technological skillset missing D.S3 - Training and skills development
B.S4 - Requires trust and participation D.S4 - Participation
Organizations
B.O1 - Existing business models, resource
constraints
D.O1 - Development of new business models
B.O2 - Missing innovation orientation in public
sector
D.O2 - Presence of innovative orientation in public
sector
B.O3 - Incompatible organizational processes D.O3 - New organizational processes required
Legislation and policies
B.LP1 - Legislation on data sharing and licenses D.LP1 - Legislation on data sharing and licenses
B.LP2 - Limited legal obligation to publish open
government data
D.LP2 - Strengthening legal obligations to publish
government data as open data by default
B.LP3 - Privacy and security concerns D.LP3 - Increases transparency and accountability

11. Key barriers
• Availability of relevant, good quality, usable
open data
• Low awareness of the value and potential
uses of open data
• Low perceived benefits of open data
• Lack of resources
• Low political priority
• Low awareness of the benefits of co-creation
• Cultural impediments to co-creation
• Existing governance processes and business
models that are incompatible with open
government & co-creation
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

12. Policies as drivers
• Several good examples of policy drivers,
both national (UK, Greece) & cross-
border (EU, OGP)
• Characteristics of successful policies:
 Ambitious but practical
 Comprehensive, systemic approach
(combining legal obligation with soft support
measures and financial incentives; making
open data part of open government strategy)
 Focus on creating incentives, reducing
transaction costs
 Backed by strong political will
 Needs-driven, user-centric
 Cross-border comparison (OGP)
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

13. Recommendations
• Turning the vicious circle into a virtuous
circle:
• Two starting points:
1) provide open data
2) share examples of co-creation
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017
Awareness
Perceived
value
Will
Provision
of open
data
Co-creation
of services

14. Policy recommendations 1
• Make open data a political priority
• Take a comprehensive, systematic policy
approach to open data and open
government
• Publish key datasets as open data
• Introduce a legal obligation for
government institutions to make public
sector data open by default
• Review data licensing and copyright
regulations for compatibility with open
data goals, public interest and new
business models
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

15. Policy recommendations 2
• Increase public officials’ awareness of
personal data protection regulations and
ways to publish data without
compromising privacy and security
• Remodel existing processes for public
service production to integrate co-
creation
• Engage in cross-border collaboration for
the harmonization of data standards to
add value to open datasets
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

16. Policy recommendations 3
• Provide and disseminate concrete
applications to display open data
solutions
• Initiate capacity-building and training
programs for public sector officials:
 specialized training programs on open
data and digital skills
 open data handbooks
 provision of guidelines
 sharing best practices
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

17. What can other stakeholders do?
• Take an active role, lead by example
• Demonstrate the value of open data
(initiate new services; prototype &
disseminate applications for data
analysis and visualization; share success
stories & best practices)
• Make active use of existing open data to
build small applications and services
• Demand open data from government
• Initiate capacity-building and training
programs for citizens, private and non-
profit sector
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

18. Conclusions
• Open data-driven public service co-
creation – a complication of complicated
things
• Country context seems to matter less
than expected
• Solution: starting the revolution top-
down and bottom-up at once:
 Comprehensive policy approach (legal
obligation + soft coordination + support
measures)
 Demand from citizens and grassroots groups
 Sharing and communication
 Willingness to collaborate to explore the
unknown
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

19. Next steps
• Ongoing research
• Testing the initial assumptions on six
real-life pilots (BE, GR, EE, IE, LT, UK):
 More thorough understanding of the
drivers and barriers in different domains
and country contexts
 What challenges are common for all six
pilots?
 How can barriers be addressed and
drivers taken advantage of?
• Redefinition of the whole concept of
„public service“?
CeDEM'17, Krems, 17 May 2017

20. Thank you!