In this week’s news from Switzerland, the government has released an English translation of the latest open government data strategy, and the Federal Statistical Office - which runs the country’s central OGD portal, opendata.swiss - is moving forward in a partnership with national data science research infrastructure platform to “meet the challenges brought about by the profound changes in the data ecosystem and by the increased use of algorithms in the public sector”. On top of all this, our Swiss chapter has taken part in a consultation on the upcoming Federal law on digitalisation for the fulfilment of administrative functions (EMBaG). All of this is explored in detail on our subforum:
Excellent, @loleg ! Thanks for sharing. The English version will certainly give it more international visibility.
Is this the first time the Swiss government has released an Open Government Data Strategy, or are there previous editions?
By the way, the German government has also promised to release an open data strategy this semester. I’m not sure if this decision has been influenced by a similar action in the other side of the border.
The first such Strategy was published in April 2014. Of interest is the (also available in English) 2019 impact review:
Which was released together with the over 120 page analysis in mixed English/German of the economic impacts of Open Data, by Adelheid Bürgi-Schmelz:
And the technical study from the Bern University of Applied Sciences:
I admit I have not read every page of this documentation, but these would be my starting points to understand the policies involved. I am aware of the announcements in Germany, but can’t confirm to what extent they are linked. Except to say that they very likely are: since 2012, when the German-speaking countries of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Lichtenstein signed a Discussion paper on Open Government Data collaboration, there have been annual meetings to share best practices.
Thanks for sharing. The English version will certainly give it more international visibility.