WIREDGOV

Yesterday, participants of TransparencyCamp Europe, stressed the importance of open data as a driver for innovation and transparent EU decision-making. The event, an ‘unconference’, brought together developers, civil servants, diplomats, transparency champions, policymakers, open data experts and journalists to share their knowledge, think up new ideas and create unique tools with the goal of making government in Europe more open.

Kat Duffy, Labs Director of the Sunlight Foundation, initiator of the original TransparencyCamp, noted at the finish: 'It's amazing to see the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs and a watchdog organisation like Open State Foundation work, together, on creating a space for this discussion. Let's have more of this.'

Unconference

The ‘unconference’ featured more than 35 sessions. Session topics proposed by participants the selves at the start of the TCampEU included cutting-edge ideas about analyzing public procurement across the EU, the state of legislative files of the EU, data accessibility, freedom of information laws and the question how to raise the bar for transparency, accountability and participation in Europe.

Panama Papers, lighting talks and an app competition

Alongside the sessions, Mar Cabra (ICIJ/Panama Papers), Alex Brenninkmeijer (European Court of Auditors) and Chris Taggart (OpenCorporates) inspired participants with lightning talks about their work and the importance of transparency, and 13 finalists from an EU-wide app competition competed in a final pitching session. The winning app,www.consiliumvote.eu, built an accessible visualisation of voting data of the European council.

'I can see interesting bits of transparency and democracy around the world that I don't normally see', said Anthony Zacharzewski who is the Director at Democratic Society.

Brenno de Winter, IT and investigative journalist said: 'The best thing about T-Camp EU is that supporters of democratic legitimacy can find each other better and inspire each other.'

Milestone

Open State Foundation Director Arjan El Fassed considered the event ‘a milestone in the European open data movement - from supporting open data leaders and advancing standards, to helping unlock the social and economic value of open data and measuring the results. TransparencyCamp Europe has energized individuals, civil society, institutions and governments to work together to create solutions to society's important challenges.’

First TransparencyCamp Europe

This was the first TransparencyCamp Europe, with Open State Foundation and the Netherlands Presidency of the European Union welcoming over 400 attendees, including open data advocates, senior government officials, journalists, FOIA experts and policy makers. Information sharing through unconferences like TransparencyCamp Europe helps to chart open data’s future and, in turn, strengthens democracy in Europe.

More on the results on www.transparencycamp.eu