The Open Data Maturity Report 2019 is out now!

On 2 December 2019, the European Data Portal published its Open Data Maturity Report 2019. The report is the fifth annual study and serves as a benchmark to gain insights into the development achieved in the field of open data in Europe. It assesses the level of maturity against four dimensions: policy, portal, impact, and quality. The study clusters countries into four different groups: trend-setters, fast-trackers, followers, and beginners, from the most mature to the least. Recommendations tailored to the level of maturity and characteristics of each of these groups are also provided.

Overall open data maturity scores 2019

The overall open data maturity scores of the 2019 assessment are presented in Figure 1: EU28+ open data maturity 2019. Key points are:

• Ireland, Spain, and France retain their leading position in Europe from last year.
• The average open data maturity score of the EU28 is 66%, 1 percentage point up from 2018.
• The average open data maturity score of the EU28+ is slightly lower than EU28: 62%.

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Figure 1: EU28+ open data maturity 2019

Clustering EU28+ open data maturity scores 2019

The open data maturity clusters are presented in Figure 2: Open data maturity clustering 2019 below. This year, the clustering shows a clearer separation between the four groups than last year. Within the groups, the differences in scores are minimal.

• Only 3 countries belong to the Trend-Setters group: Ireland, Spain, and France.
• The number of countries in the Fast-Trackers group has decreased from 16 in 2018 to 8 in 2019.
• The strength of Trend-Setter and Fast-Tracker countries has enabled them to significantly improve on the progress they had achieved already. On the other side, this has also amplified the performance gap with the Followers and Beginners groups.
• The Followers group is the biggest group this year with 14 countries. In 2018, the Fast-Trackers group was the biggest.
• Because the groups are identified starting from the top performers, the score variance within the Trend-Setters, Fast-Trackers, and Followers groups is minimal. This is different for the Beginners group, which collects the remaining countries (7), showing much more variance.

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Figure 2: Open data maturity clustering 2019

Open data maturity scores on the four dimensions 2019

The EU28 average maturity level on each of the four dimensions - policy, portal, impact, and quality - are presented in Figure 3: EU28 average open data maturity per dimension.

• Policy is the most mature open data dimension with an average score of 74%. This year in particular, countries have invested in the governance of open data to ensure the effectiveness of publication and re-use at all government levels.
• The national portals are getting more advanced with an average maturity of 67%. In 2019, countries have spent more effort analysing their users' behaviours with 89% of the EU28 countries using web analytic tools.
• The average score of 65% on quality shows that, although EU28 countries are already making an effort in boosting the quality of their metadata and data, there is still room for improvement.
• Impact is the least mature open data dimension with an average score of 57%. This reiterates the need for a strategic approach to monitor and measure the re-use of open data and the impact it generates.

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Figure 3: EU28 average open data maturity per dimension

Curious about your country's performance and looking for examples on European best practices? Visit our open data maturity dashboard and read the Open Data Maturity Report 2019! Share your thoughts and opinions on the report, open data, and data sharing via mail and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn to stay up to date!