The German federal government has launched an online platform where anyone can submit ideas for open data. After four weeks (later this month), the online phase will be closed and all the ideas will be collected.

The results of this consultation will then be discussed in a series of workshops with technical representatives of the authorities concerned and interested parties from business, civil society, the media, and science. The aim of these workshops is to collaborate on sample applications of open data, to discuss issues involving data provisioning, and to promote exchange between the various stakeholders. The outcomes of the workshops will then be presented and discussed online again.

The willingness to share information is still new to many, says Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Federal Government Commissioner for IT. Here you can see examples of how online data can be used to fulfil actual information needs and how new insights can be gained. We want to bring the opportunity of open data to life and stimulate the opening of additional data sets. But we cannot do that on our own. That is why we need to involve administrative staff, and representatives from civil society, business, academia, and the media.

Open Data Action Plan

The online collection of ideas is part of the implementation of the Open Data Action Plan of the German federal government. In this plan, the government has committed itself to working together with potential users to identify specific data and to make its availability a priority. The focus is on the themes of traffic and mobility, energy revolution, climate change and climate protection, demographic change, (network) infrastructures, and public revenue and expenditure.

This project is being implemented in co-operation with D21, a non-profit organisation based in Berlin. D21 is Europe's largest partnership between policy-makers and business people for the information society. It consists of a cross-party and industry-wide network of 200 member companies and institutions as well as political partners at national, regional and local level. Its goal is to shape the digital society with forward-looking projects that serve the common good and to ensure that Germany is successful both as a society and as an economy.