According to thetelegraph.co.uk, the EU council’s so-called ‘Coreper’ committee backed Commission plans to open up public sector information such as geographical data and statistics to be re-used for any purpose across Europe.
European leaders hope this will inject a much needed €40bn into the crisis-hit Eurozone as business and developers can use the data at a low cost to create products.
Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, said: “Opening up public data means opening up business opportunities, creating jobs and building communities.”
The UK was praised for the availability of its data. It is hoped that other countries in the 27-nation bloc can follow suit, and produce apps like Commuter, which provided live updates to London public transport users using such data.
Coreper committee’s latest endorsement is part of the drive to update the 2003 Public Sector Information Directive, which was introduced to make it easier for businesses to access and re-use government-held information.
Read the whole story HERE.
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