Sustainable open data ecosystems through data quality, governance, and infrastructure: Unlocking social, political and economic value

Open data are crucial for scientific knowledge production, transparency and accountability, as well as innovation. The European Union has implemented various policies and regulatory frameworks for open government data and open scientific data, as well as for data sharing and re-use of non-government data. However, the mere availability of open data does not ensure its reuse and distributional benefit to society, and its production can meet sustainability challenges. Working with open data requires data skills, access to data infrastructures, and regulatory guidance to address privacy, confidentiality and intellectual property requirements. Further, critical scholarship has cautioned against the de facto valorisation of open data, and urges focus on the socio-technical and political aspects of production, dissemination and use of open data beyond mere economic value. This open letter is building upon findings of an interdisciplinary Marie Curie Action Innovative Training Network focussed on 'Open Data ECOsystems' (ODECO). It claims that in a data-driven economy and a datafied society, more attention needs to be paid to the conditions within which open data is produced, disseminated and used, and by whom. Accordingly, this open letter provides a set of actionable recommendations for both practitioners and policymakers, to support sustainability as well as economic and social value in open data initiatives, through proposals in areas including data quality, governance, participation and infrastructure.

How can we ensure open data benefits everyone? Open data plays a key role in science, transparency, accountability, and innovation. However, simply making data available as open datasets does not guarantee it will be reused or benefit society equally. Effective use of open data requires skills, infrastructure, and clear rules to handle privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property. Further, the use of open data must result in economic value as well as social value; but often only economic value generation is valourised. Drawing on research from the ODECO project, this open letter calls for more focus on how and by whom open data is produced, shared, and used. It provides a set of actionable recommendations for both practitioners and policymakers, to support sustainability as well as economic and social value in open data initiatives, through proposals in areas including data quality, governance, participation and infrastructure.