On 31 May 2006, the OECD held a workshop on increasing the access to public sector information (PSI, e.g., geographical and meteorological data, libraries, archives, museums). The public sector is a large producer of content with major potential for digitisation and new commercial and non-commercial applications and value-added services. But wider use of public sector information may require changes in policy approaches and reorganisation of public information. This workshop explored economic and distributional aspects of different PSI access, cost, pricing and distribution models. It took stock of OECD work to explore possible next steps on the basis of: i) available economic analysis and metrics of public sector information, ii) industry examples, and iii) different government approaches.

The Workshop built on the completed OECD study.

The agenda and presentations are available below:

• Welcome and introduction by the Chair: Jean-Jacques Sahel (UK)

• Secretariat presentation of the main work items from the OECD PSI study: Graham Vickery, OECD Secretariat

Commercial re-use of PSI - economic analysis and metrics of public sector information

Questions addressed include: What are the rationale, advantages, disadvantages and effects of different access, cost, pricing, charging and distribution models.

• Paul Uhlir, Director, Office of International S&T Information Programs, The National Academies (United States)
• Robbin Te Velde, Senior researcher, Dialogic Innovation & Interaction (Netherlands)
• Philippe Pierre, PwC Advisory Services (Luxembourg)
• Norbert Paquel, Groupement Français de l'Industrie de l'Information (GFII) (France)
• Gerhard Wagner, (and recommendations) Secretary General, Austrian Federation for the Information Industry (VIW) (Austria)
 
Industry and business case examples: opportunities and challenges

Questions addressed include: Who is generating commercial value-added products and services based on public sector information? And how? Are there bottlenecks for development of the use of PSI? Are there special issues relating to data access at international level, with access/pricing fragmented at national level?

• Jennifer Campbell, Member of the PRIMET Board, Managing Director of Meteo Consult B.V.
• Francesco Saverio Nucci, European Project Co-ordinator, Engineering SpA - R&D Lab (Italy)
• Alain Kervicic, Manager of Data Products, Teleatlas
• Christopher Corbin, European Geospatial Information Policy and Public Affairs Director
  Info-Dynamics Research  Associates Limited (UK)
• Prof. Juan Carlos De Martin, Politecnico di Torino, Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica (Italy)
• Sabine Enjalbert, Director Business Development, Mappy SA
 
Government approaches: state of play and new models

How far have governments developed PSI access and use in practice? What is the experience with different models? What kind of information is required to clarify and improve policy?

• Mr. Cheol-Hoon Chung, Senior Researcher, Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion KADO (Korea)
• Yvo Volman and Meri Rantala, European Commission
• Mr. Laszlo Majtenyi, (the Hungarian Model) Director of Eotvos Karoly Institute (Hungary)
• Jim Wretham, Head of Information Policy, Office of Public Sector Information (UK)
• Eivind Lorentzen Ministry of Trade and Industry (Norway)
• Brief circulated by the Australian delegation

Further analytical work and moving towards an international recommendation

• Herbert Burkert, University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
• Mr. Cheol-Hoon Chung, Senior Researcher, KADO (Korea)
• Rob Davies, MDR partners (UK)
• Paul Uhlir (United States)
• Other participants

For further information, contact graham.vickery @oecd.org.