In this interview with Natalia Aristimuño Pérez, the Digital Services Director at DG DIGIT of the European Commission, we discuss Joinup’s role in the upcoming Interoperable Europe Act and explore the future of the Joinup platform in its aim to support the ever-shifting world of digital public services.
How important is Joinup’s role in facilitating interoperability in the public sector?
Joinup plays a key role in assisting and supporting Member States in the deployment of their digital public services. Its value lies in its ability to put together digital government related policy and solutions, and to link them to the practical aspect of digital government. For example, someone might visit the platform to look for policy insights, and then discovers tools to help him or her to implement the desired policy. Or people might visit Joinup for the tools, but then stay or come back to share their experience and use case.
By connecting all these elements, Joinup is progressively positioning itself as the virtual “city square” of the interoperability community. And it will be more so with the new Interoperable Europe Act.
What will be the role of Joinup in the future Interoperable Europe Act?
Joinup forges a connection between the policy angle and the necessary building blocks to make the policy a reality. In this sense, Joinup will be one of the cornerstones of the forthcoming Interoperable Europe Act, acting as the “Interoperable Europe Portal”.
The aim is to reinforce the platform’s commitment to uphold the core concept of interoperability and being the one-stop shop for shared and reusable solutions to support public administrations when building interoperable services.
Joinup is also home to the Interoperable Europe initiative. What is the benefit of that?
The Interoperable Europe initiative promotes a reinforced interoperability policy for European public administrations. Joinup is the “home” of this initiative. The platform showcases news and events about government-related interoperability, along with initiatives and best practices that support the digitalisation of EU public services. It could be said that Joinup covers the hands-on aspects of interoperability, while the Interoperable Europe initiative covers the policy angle of interoperability.
The public sector is the direct beneficiary, since it can take advantage of the best practices, news and policy information that is exchanged to support the digitalisation of EU public administrations. At the same time, the great number of tools and reusable solutions that are offered on the platform result in a reduction of time, effort, and development costs over time.
What are the benefits to others, such as businesses, academia, and citizens?
Public sector digitalisation is an ever-shifting world. In these circumstances, Joinup supports businesses to streamline their operations, reduce their costs, and to enhance their competitiveness in the marketplace, by offering them interoperability standards and knowledge to stay on top of public administrations’ needs. Furthermore, Joinup offers businesses a platform through which they can share their open source solutions and create communities around them. This collaboration between Joinup and businesses leads to the development of better products and services that benefit all.
For academia, the collection of documents, studies, factsheets, tools and best practices provided openly on Joinup can greatly support research and teaching. Academics and researchers who are specialised or interested in interoperability, digital transformation, EU ICT or policies, can find valuable resources and content regarding their field. Additionally, Joinup provides them with a space to present their research, share knowledge and expertise and collaborate with public administrations and other stakeholders.
As for citizens, the use of interoperable standards and solutions in digital public services can simplify and improve their experience when interacting with public administrations on any level (local, regional, national or EU). What’s more, Joinup helps citizens find out how digital technology supports their administrations’ digital transformation, and provides them a channel through which they can contribute to the journey.
The platform has been around for more than 11 years. Is this a testament to Joinup’s persistence to embrace the future of digital public services?
Joinup was initially created to bring together different communities (OSOR, SEMIC and ePractice). In the process, it has managed to bring out additional qualities. It has become a repository for interoperability solutions and an online meeting place for digital government experts for example. Its longevity and success reflect the strong partnerships that it has built between EU institutions and Member States, as well as its ability to adapt and evolve to meet the changing needs of the digital landscape of public services.
As we look towards the future of interoperability of digital public services, Joinup will continue to play an essential role. It will support public administrations with the necessary information and digital solutions they need. The platform will keep offering a unique mix of capabilities and functionalities, making it the go-to platform for digital transformation activities in the European public sector.