This document discusses open data and transparency regarding lists of beneficiaries of EU regional policy funding. It summarizes the results of surveys conducted in 2010-2012 that evaluated how openly and usefully different EU countries and regions published this funding data. The surveys found three main strategies for publishing the data and that over time more regions/countries shifted towards a balanced approach considering both data openness and usability. Open questions remain regarding factors influencing transparency and how to best promote civic engagement with the data.

1. www.opencoesione.gov.it
www.dps.tesoro.it/opencoesione
Open Data and the
transparency of the lists of
beneficiaries of EU Regional
Policy in Europe
Department for Cohesion and Economic Development
European Commission – DG Regio
Brussels, 11th December 2013
www.opencoesione.gov.it

2. The benefits of Open Data
Increased openness of government datasets is emerging as a desirable feature across Europe (Davies, 2010). Open data is seen as having significant economic potential, generating user-driven innovation (Von Hippel, 2005) based on the availability of previously restricted information and the creation of new firms. This can lead to the creation of new public eServices that are both effective (user-centred) and efficient (harnessing capacity and knowledge outside government). In particular, Open Government Data (OGD):
(a) fosters transparency and accountability of policy choices;
(b) enables the creation of new public eServices by government, civil society and individual citizens
(c) increases the collaboration across government bodies and with citizens and enterprises
(d) enables substantial improvements in the quality of policy making, in terms, e.g., of quality of the spending and public value delivered;
(e) may contribute to creation of social capital through the enhancement of information flows to and from the citizen (e.g. participation to public debates, crowdsourcing of relevant information).

3. Open Data: 8 principles
1.Data Must Be Complete All public data are made available. Data are electronically stored information or recordings, including but not limited to documents, databases, transcripts, and audio/visual recordings. Public data are data that are not subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations, as governed by other statutes
2.Data Must Be Primary Data are published as collected at the source, with the finest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms
3.Data Must Be Timely Data are made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data.
4.Data Must Be Accessible Data are available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.
5.Data Must Be Machine processable Data are reasonably structured to allow automated processing of it.
6.Access Must Be Non-Discriminatory Data are available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
7.Data Formats Must Be Non-Proprietary Data are available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control.
8.Data Must Be License-free Data are not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed as governed by other statutes.

4. Open Data & Transparency
EU rules and initiatives
Structural Funds Regulation 2007-13
Art. 7 Reg. 1828 8 dic 2006
“the managing authority shall be responsible for organising the publication, electronically or otherwise, of
1. the names of the beneficiaries,
2. the names of the operations and
3. the amount of public funding allocated to the operations”

5. Open Data & Transparency
EU rules and initiatives
European Transparency Initiative (2008) - Indicative table for setting the list of beneficiaries of EU Funding

6. An evaluation on the transparency the lists of beneficiaries of EU Regional Policy
The goals
•To compare the performances of EU MS & Regions
•To explore the information-based strategies that European public agencies are pursuing when publishing their data on the web

7. A measure for Open Data quality
Open data and the “invisible hand”
Public Value & Data divide
Government should only publish data in open, machine- readable formats
Government should consider different users needs (public value) and provide also easy-to-access data in processed form (data divide)
Brito, 2007
Robinson et al., 2009
Dawes and Helbig, 2010
Gurstein, 2011
Harrison et al, 2011
Relevant literature on open data policy
Current emerging practice focuses on the publication of open government data in machine-readable format, possibly through open standards, so that the data can be easily re-used by citizens, enterprises and civil society.

8. A measure for Open Data quality
Source: Dawes, S: Stewardship and usefulness: Policy principles for information-based transparency. Government Information Quarterly 27, p. 381 (2010).
Stewardship principle includes the actions and policies addressed to data “care” and aiming to ensure information quality and detail, reduce the risk of misuse, and consequently increase users’ confidence in government information.
Usefulness includes the creation of added value for citizens and enterprises and innovation promotion, thus understanding the actions aimed at making data more accessible to end-users.
Relevant literature on open data policy

9. Data collection
•Web-based survey on availability and quality of the lists of beneficiaries of EU Regional Policy
•All EU Countries and Regions included
•434 Operational Programmes reviewed [European Commission - DG Regional Policy database]
•Starting point: EC DG Regional Policy and DG Employment dedicated portals
•Three waves: Oct 2010, Oct 2011, Oct 2012
•Now 2013/2014 survey is under way + back office topics
Methodology

10. Data collection
Starting points of the web-based analysis

11. Stewardship
variables
October 2011

12. Usefulness
variables
Category) Characteristics) ETI) Italy)
Av.)%)
EU27)
Av.)%)
DB)consultation))
through)masks))
Search'by'Fund'type'' ) 6) 29)
Search'by'Project' ) 10) 27)
) Search'by'OP' ) 2) 31)
) Search'by'Axis/Object./Action' ) 6) 17)
) Search'by'Beneficiary' ) 10) 13)
) Search'by'Resources' ) 2) 8)
) Search'by'Territory/Area' ) 10) 19)
) Search'by'Project'status'' ) 0) 7)
Advanced)
Functions)
Georeferencing''through'maps' ) 0) 16)
) Visualisation'through'graphs'and'
other'elaborations''
) 2) 17)
) Data'with'subEregional'detail' ) 29) 18)
'
October 2011

13. Content (detail of info)
2011
2012

14. Financial data
2011
2012

15. Quality of information
2011
2012

16. Format
Format' Score'
(%)'
PDF$ 16.7$
DOC$ 16.7$
HTML$(multiple$pages)$ 16.7$
HTML$(single$page)$ 33.3$
XLS$ 50.0$
CSV$ 66.7$
XML,$JSON$ 83.3$
Linked$data$model$supporting$format$(e.g.$RDF)$ 100.0$
$
A score is assigned that is directly proportional to the degree of
openness and re-usability of the information provided.
It takes into account whether the formats used are machine-readable,
open or, at best, consistent with the linked data model.

17. Format
2011
2012

18. Search features
2011
2012

19. Advanced functions
2011
2012

20. Strategie di Open Data
Evoluzione delle modalità di pubblicazione dei dati (2010-2012)
Fonte: Biagetti, M. e Reggi, L. Where does EU money go? Availability and quality of Open Data on the recipients
of EU Structural Funds, 2013. http://bit.ly/Zbu6nd
2010 2011 2012
[35%]
[23%]
[38%]
[21%]
[47%]
[13%]

21. 2011: 3 different publication strategies
19%
14%
24%
14%
57%
73%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
ERDF
ESF
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
28%
11%
8%
20%
21%
27%
52%
67%
61%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
CONV
RCE
Cooperation
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred

22. 57%
44%
60%
41%
89%
12%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Decentralised
Centralised
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
7%
54%
19%
23%
74%
22%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
EU15
NEW MSs
Group 3- Regulation-centred
Group 2-User-centred
Group 1 - Reuse-centred
2011: 3 different publication strategies

23. 23
Base category = PDF (logit model)
Proactive strategy
Base categories: Centralization==0, fund=ERDF, objective=1, naz_reg (model A)=cb | naz_reg (model B)=n, new_entries (model B)=0
2012: Relative probability of choosing a strategy while being…

24. Verso un approccio bilanciato?
Usefulness
Stewardship
Closed data
Approccio basato sulla quaità dei dati
Approccio basato sulla visualiz- zazione
Approccio bilanciato
Qualità + fruibilità
Re-user centered
User centered
Regulation centered
Civic engagement

25. Some examples….
Usefulness
Stewardship
Re-user centered
User centered
Regulation centered
DE
UK
ES
GR
BG
EE
NL
DK
HU
IT
PL
FR

26. Towards the new Regulation
EU27 2007-2013 OPs average level of compliance with the requirements set by the Regulation for 2014- 2020

27. Challenges ahead and open questions
•How do back office / information management issues influence openness and transparency (e.g. centralization / decentralization)?
•From open data to engagement
•citizen monitoring and evaluation
•gathering comments and suggestions
•What are the determinants of openness and transparency? For example:
•Regional context (size, innovation, ICT diffusion, etc.)
•Transparency and Democracy indicators
•Economic variables (amount of funding, FEIs vs. grants..)
•Organizational variables
•How to compare the performance of EU27 Regions and Member States? Open Government Index included as an indicator of administrative capacity in Italy’s Partnership Agreement

28. New survey 2013/2014