1. Open Policymaking in France
2011 – 2014:
Perspectives on 3 Years of
Data-Driven Policies
Romain Lacombe
Former Head of Innovation
French Prime Minister’s Taskforce Etalab
for Open Government Data (data.gouv.fr)
London – June 20th, 2014
2. 2
April 24, 2014
France joins the
Open Government Partnership
(OGP Logo)
Source: OGP
…with a bit of help from Great Britain!
3. 3
Following up on the joint declaration between the President
of the French Republic and the President of Mexico on
April 11, 2014, the Minister for State Reform formally
announced our intention to join the Partnership
on April 24, 2014 during the inaugural Paris Conference
on Open Data & Open Government.
5. 5
France joins a group of 64 countries committed to
working together with civil society to make
‘their governments more open, accountable
and responsive to citizens.’
Source: OGP
18. 18
Open policymaking!
France’s Open Data initiative builds upon a (slowly evolving)
tradition of open policymaking and public consultation enhanced
by data-driven policy strategies, dating back to
the principles of 1789.
21. 21
August 26, 1789
Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen
Article 15: ‘Society has the right to hold any public agent
accountable of its administration.’
Source: Cour des Comptes
23. 23
July, 1978
Right to Access Information
‘Administrative secret’ abolished by law:
Citizens can access all public information
contained in administrative documents
Strictly defined confidentiality exceptions:
privacy, trade secrets, national security, etc.
An independent authority is created as a
recourse for citizens to appeal the
administration’s response.
27. 2003
Right to Reuse Information
Public Sector Information (‘PSI’) EU Directive
asks member states to pass laws that
allow public data reuse:
Access to
documents:
Analog
Synthetic
Static
vs. Data reuse:
Digital
Granular
Dynamic
27
29. 29
2010
Open Data on the agenda
Civil society and researchers petition government:
Source: Documentation française
30. 30
2010
Open Data policy announced
July 2010: The President of the French
Republic announces an open data
policy as part of the government
modernization review committee.
November 2010: the creation of a
governmental taskforce is announced
by the Council of Ministers.
33. 33
February 21, 2011
Taskforce Etalab
Created under the Prime Minister’s authority with
a mandate to coordinate the release of public data
by governmental departments.
34. 34
May 26, 2011
Executive order on Open Data
Formalizes France’s open data
strategy and its objectives
Commitment to free access to and
free reuse of public data as
exhaustively as possible
In machine-readable formats with
emphasis on open standards
Based on the first discussions and
open workshops with civil society
held in the Spring of 2011
35. 35
October 18, 2011
Open Licence released
‘Licence Ouverte / Open Licence’:
Clarifying re-users rights and
responsibilities
Committing public sector bodies
to publish data openly and
exhaustively
Applies to all public data at
national level
36. 36
December 5, 2011
Launch of Data.gouv.fr
Core datasets:
National budget
and detailed
annexes
Fiscal policy
Education
Environment
Road safety
Crime data
Healthcare
infrastructure, …
Source: Etalab
38. Engaging with civil society
Building demand for data
Hosting and
participating in
hackathons and
collaborative coding
& designing events
On a variety of
themes with data to
supports innovation
Outside of
government… and
inside! :)
Source: CC-BY-SA Romain Lacombe
39. Empowering data innovators
Connecting innovators to partners, talent & resources
A community and series of contests accelerating
access to resources for data-driven startups:
Source: Etalab
40. Catalyzing a data ecosystem in France
4 DataConnexions contests & 32 startup laureates, including:
Source: Etalab
41. Open Data as a governance strategy
October 31st, 2012
Etalab joins the new
Secretariat General for Public
Sector Modernization:
Open Data is one of the pillars
of the new government reform
policy
Taskforce Etalab benefits from
closer collaboration with the
Government’s CIO
Quarterly ministerial level
committees
Source: SGMAP
44. 44
February, 2013
New strategy for public data sharing
Renew commitment to Open Data
as part of the government’s digital roadmap
Building on the governmental charter signed by
each minister which mentioned committing to free
and widespread reuse of public data.
Announces public debates on access to and reuse
of data in key sectors:
• Healthcare
• Transportation
• Environment
• Research
• Fiscal policy
• Housing
45. 45
June, 2013
Collaborative open data policymaking
Designing the next version of data.gouv.fr with its users
Hackathons and
collaborative design
events
Inside and outside
government
Open to anyone
More than 12 events in
2 months to jumpstart
development of new
data.gouv.fr
Source: Etalab
46. 46
June 16, 2013
G8 Open Data Charter
The Heads of State of the G8 member countries expressed a shared
commitment to Open Data for a more transparent world.
Source: CC-BY-SA Romain Lacombe
47. 47
September, 2013
Progress towards free reuse
for all public datasets
A report to the Prime
Minister highlights the
need to transform the
business models of the
few public operators
that still sell access to
datasets.
Decision: civil and
case law data to be
freely reusable.
Source: Etalab
48. 48
November 8, 2011
France’s G8 Open Data Action Plan
France commits to
engaging with open
data innovators
worldwide
Joint effort with other
G8 governments
Source: Etalab
49. 49
The new Data.gouv.fr
First fully open platform for any national government: citizens
and data innovators can share their own apps & datasets!
Source: Etalab
51. 51
Building on the Open Data momentum
The open platform has doubled data reuse to date!
Source: Etalab
52. 52
Expanding the ‘government startup’ model
Along with the creation of a Chief Data Officer for France
Source: Etalab
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Expanding international collaboration
Building on existing outreach and collaboration effort
Engaging with
international institutions
Technical assistance to
francophone and
partner countries
Exchanging with other
governments through
the Open Government
Partnership
54. 54
France’s OGP Action Plan
Announced for November 2014
Elaborating a roadmap to
2016 with civil society:
Transcription of EU Directive
into new law on access to
information
Open & collaborative
action plan review process
Started with the Paris
Conference on Open Data
workshops (April 25, 2014)
56. 56
Data requires infrastructure
Widespread access to open data requires comprehensive
government IT systems reform and streamlining.
Silver lining: ‘never waste a good crisis!’ – opportunity to focus IT
reform efforts on open architectures
57. 57
There is no such thing as
‘un-biased data’
France’s 2008 ‘Active Solidarity’ benefits reform was predicated
on a randomized control trial. It was designed to be random…
until partisan politics and regional power structures channeled
funding towards politically important areas.
Silver lining: more attention paid to the data collection process
58. 58
‘Code solves arguments’…
but data does not (always)
Traditional public debates regularly bump into a combination of
NIMBYism, over-representation of concentrated interests, or
arguments over experts’ point of view etc.
Silver lining: open data apps democratize civic involvement
59. 59
Data might simply not exist
Open data activists and external stakeholders sometimes insist on
access to data that exists only in their minds.
Silver lining: opportunity to upgrade data collection process and
raise the quality of monitoring & evaluation of public policies
60. 60
The data economy
challenges our institutions
Ex: OpenSteetMap vs. ‘Institut Géographique National’
and the rise of distributed networks of mobile sensors.
Silver lining: raises the question of democracy in an age of data
• What rules for private data of public significance?
• How can we harness data sciences to improve public service?
• Can the Internet of Things, wearable technologies &
connected devices help generate new sources of data?
62. 62
Platforms > pyramids
Source: CC-BY-SA Romain Lacombe
Governments can serve citizens much more effectively
by working like networks rather than hierarchies
63. 63
Innovation before regulation
Source: CC-BY-SA Romain Lacombe
Addressing the policy challenges of tomorrow means encouraging
innovation today to build homegrown information industries
64. 64Source: CC-BY-SA Romain Lacombe
Empower innovators
(Some) citizens are eager to collaborate and work for the
greater good. Listen, help out, and get out of the way!
