The policy memo by Analitika points to the benefits of opening up public data, and contributes to the discussion on the need for open data in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Editor
Publishing open data is common trend in the world. With every year, the number of governments that are opening up their data is increasing.
Although the potential of open data has been recognized in the region of the Western Balkans, its still has not been fully realized in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Exceptions aside, public institutions generally do not provide access to public data via the Internet.
In order to avoid that BiH seriously falls behind in the area of proactive disclosure of public data, which could bear a negative effect for all sectors of the society, it is necessary to initiate a wider public debate on the need to open up government data.
The numerous advantages of opening public data - economic development and innovation, improvement of transparency and efficiency of public institutions - should be reason enough for public institutions in BiH to invest more effort in this realm and to develop comprehensive policies for opening up data.
The memo provides examples of the use of open public data for economic development, improvement of public services and promotion of government transparency, and gives general recommendations for the creation of open data policies in BiH.
The publication is a result of the project "Advocacy for Open Government: Supporting the Right to Know in South East Europe," financed by the European Union and Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina.