File:Best practice Szeged.docx

Name of the Share-PSI workshop

Title of the Best Practice: Open Data by Open Software in Szeged

Outline of the best practice

The town administration of Szeged in Hungary had adopted a policy for open source sotfware and informatic solutions and implemented various actions to promote the usage of open software within and outside of the town administration. This public initiative was complemented by user-oriented research activity at the local university with the result that Szeged is now one of the European knowledge centres for open software development. The successful cooperation between the town and the university and their strategic commitment for open innovation in ICT makes Szeged an ideal location for experimental applications for open data initiatives.

Management summary

Challenge

Town administrations often face the problem of publishing information without real effect of reaching to the end users therefore the public and private users of a community need clear incentives to publish their data in standard format in order to create an efficient information system. Compatibility problems often make it difficult to integrate data from various providers into one single system therefore the adaptation of open solutions can create good opportunities for cooperative actions.

Solution

The town administration made it a priority to use open software as much as possible without compromising the connectivity and compatibility with external users and partners. The data processing and management services of the town was transferred to a proporietary system that was built upon open standards and interfaces thereby all the flexibility and efficiency of a tailor-made system was obtained but the compatibility with external applications was also preserved. The end result is an efficient informatic system with very low requirements on the client side that also offers standard interface for external applications. Cooperation with the university ensured that the good practice of the town administration becomes a catalist for new developments that strengthened further the role of open software also among the private users therefore the local eco-system is ready and capable for making use of openly available public data.

Best Practice Identification

Why is this a Best Practice? What's the impact of the Best Practice?

The commitment and devoted actions of the town administration created an environment where the local public and private organisations have the possibility to use one single information system for managing and publishing their own data and information thereby extending the scope of open data from the public sphere to the private operators, as well.

Link to the PSI Directive

Open Data platform(s) / Publication and deployment of information/data and metadata

Dataset structures, formats, APIs / Structuring of information/data, formats, APIs

Documentation of information/data, creation of metadata

Selection of information/data to be published according to various criteria

Why is there a need for this Best Practice?

Openly published public data are often not used extensively by private users and openly published private data are even more rare phenomena. Community actions can help in this issue because the private operators are ready to accept open methods and solutions only when they identify their own interests in such applications. Examples of successful implementation of such actions can help other towns and regions to move forward in this direction.

What do you need for this Best Practice?

Commitment of local stakeholders to use open solutions is the primary step towards an open information system. A coordinating public body (town administration and/or university or other actor with public vocation) is necessary to create the informatic system with standard open interfaces for external applications. Finally, awareness raising and commitment building is necessary among the potential users by giving them incentives to use the public system also for their own information and data.

Applicability by other member states?

This approach can be applicable to any town where the local university (or a research institution) can make a singificant contribution to the efforts of the town administration. It can be especially relevant in the Czech Republic and in Romania where similar research facilities are under construction as in Szeged in the framework of the Extreme Light Infrastructure project a flagship project of the European Research Area.

Contact info - record of the person to be contacted for additional information or advice

Further information can be obtained from Tamas Gyulai (expert for innovation and technology transfer)

at tamas.gyulai@europe.com or at +36-209-209-573.