Open Data Life Cycle Workshop of the Twining Open Data Operational Project – TODO was successfully held on Friday, October 30, 2020.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the originally planned setting with the physical part of the event at the Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb could not be arranged. Hence, the Workshop was held completely via the ZOOM webinar system and was attended by 88 participants from more than 10 countries.

The agenda of the Workshop was focusing on the open data life cycle – the process and practices around handling data, starting from its creation, through the provision of open data to its use by various parties. The group of outstanding speakers shared their rich experience and knowledge from the world of open data and brought more evidence on the full life cycle of open data – within and across settings and sectors.

The first session was opened by Project coordinator, Assist. Prof. Ana Kuveždić Divjak from Faculty of Geodesy University of Zagreb, who introduced the TODO project and agenda of the Workshop. Participants were welcomed by Assoc. Prof. Almin Đapo, Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy University of Zagreb, who is coordinating this EU project and was hosting the event. Recognising the role of the Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society and its direct connection with open data, the Workshop was formally opened by Ms. Kristina Posavec, deputy of the State Secretary of this office at Croatia’s Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society.

The Workshop continued with the inspiring presentations by keynote speakers who provided participants with an external view on the impact of the Open Data Life Cycle on society, economy, and governance. Prof. Joep Crompvoets from KU Leuven Public Governance Institute & EuroSDR talked about the Open Data Ecosystem in Europe while Prof. Marijn Janssen from the Delft University of Technology gave his view on the Open Data in the Circular Economy.

The second session continued with contributions and participation of TODO Project partners who provided the perspective on open data from the Netherlands, Greece and Croatia. Dr. Frederika Welle Donker from the Delft University of Technology presented the research on Open Data Reusers in the Picture. Prof. Yannis Charalabidis from the University of the Aegean talked about Open Data Strategies and Practices at National Level: Lessons from EU Member States, while Assoc. Prof. Anamarija Musa from the Faculty of Law University of Zagreb finished this session with some considerations on Open Data in Croatia.

After the lunch break, the third session welcomed the participation of Gianfranco Cecconi, Lead of the European Union’s Data portal and support centre for data sharing projects who presented the work of EU Data Portal. The session continued with a stimulating presentation by Prof. Stefaan G. Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory (The GovLab) at New York University entitled The Emergence of a Third Wave of Open Data?

All presentations have been followed by vivid discussion and a lot of questions providing to all participants a comprehensive overview on the open data life cycle and open issues related to open data in Croatia, Europe, and globally.

While open data research in Croatia is advancing and promising, there are still some challenges and issues. The ambition of TODO Project is to change this situation, and move open data research at the University of Zagreb to a higher level by establishing a sustainable and internationally leading open data research environment capable of addressing key challenges in open data research. Therefore, the Project coordinator closed the Workshop with the call for all key stakeholders and interested parties (reserchers, students, decision makers, public servants, businesses people or citizens) that want to engage in the open data ecosystem to possibly extend the network of people participating in TODO project activities.

The Workshop was organised by TODO partners, led by Prof. Željko Bačić and the Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb team, who designed the programme and did an excellent job on moderating the sessions and engaging the discussions.

We are confident that the workshop has put TODO Project on the open data map and that the cooperation with these very influencing people will continue, increase and contribute to the awareness and knowledge about open data across University of Zagreb constituent units (and worldwide!), industry, governmental and public authorities and professionals interested and involved in open data.

The recording of the workshop is available on the link (Passcode: uGq.wb44).

Click here to see the full Open Data Life Cycle workshop programm and download the presentations.