Securing long-term funding for digital projects

Many projects in the area of open data also have limited funding. “It’s not only about creating flagship projects, which get cancelled later, but about making sure such projects become permanent,” said Mario Wiedemann, head of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Data for Society project at the start of the network meeting. This time, more than 70 participants from all over Germany took part via Zoom.

Jens Libbe, head of the Infrastructure, Business and Finance research area at the German Institute for Urban Affairs, contributed a number of ideas to the discussion. “Projects can initiate a lot of good stuff. But then the issue of long-term funding always becomes the Achilles heel of the whole thing,” he said. He used the phrase “Digital Basic Services” to summarize his presentation, referring to traditional basic services that are optimized through digital enhancement, such as apps for waste collection. But the term also applies to new types of digital services that only become possible thanks to digitalization – and usually have to do with collecting and publishing data.

This can result in digital services that are data- or platform-based. Libbe gave a number of examples: APIs, dashboards for providing information, an open data portal as a web-based application, and a geoportal.

In many cases, the question of how financing can be guaranteed after the initial funding runs out is often asked only at the last minute, Libbe said. What needs to happen instead is that projects must be put on a sustainable footing and distributed across a wide area.

To ensure this occurs, Germany’s federal, state and local authorities must come to agreement on whose area of responsibility digitalization measures fall under, Libbe explained. This includes clarifying which digital tasks states can make obligatory for local governments without specifying how those tasks must be carried out, something that would give municipalities a secure financial and legal foundation. Libbe also suggested institutionalizing “strategic digitalization at the local level” as a new responsibility shared by federal and state authorities. In addition, more legal certainty is needed for local-government enterprises, he said, since the possibilities they have for offering new (digital) products and services have not been clearly defined (Municipal Business Law). The responsibilities of public-sector enterprises in general must also be clarified, he added.

During the second part of the meeting, Lisa Stubert and Klemens Maget from Berlin’s Open Data Informationsstelle (ODIS) presented their relatively new GeoExplorer tool. They created a prototype that uses artificial intelligence to extract even more information from the city’s existing open geodata. The aim is to make it easier for people to find and use data. Thanks to GeoExplorer, users can search by keyword or ask questions in order to find data that potentially matches their needs. More datasets are displayed compared to searches on the open data portal, since the AI makes numerous suggestions without knowing in advance what users are specifically looking for. The tool can also be used to carry out initial analyses.

To create the tool, ODIS used the API from OpenAI. The tool’s technology is open source and can be developed further. GeoExplorer can also be accessed through a browser and is easy to use thanks to its streamlined interface.

Finally, two short slots remained. Denés Jäger from the Open Knowledge Foundation presented the Open Data Ranking for Germany’s federal and state governments, which we reported on in our last newsletter. In addition, Resa Mohabbat Kar from msg systems discussed an event for municipalities organized by the Federal Ministry of the Interior to be held on November 14, 2024 in Halle (Saale), where open government will be the main topic of discussion (click here to register).

The municipal Open-Data Network meeting is jointly organized by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Deutsches Institut für Urbanistk – Difu). The digital venue is designed especially for individuals and organizations involved in public administration. At the beginning of the event, participants have the opportunity to get to know each other during a speed-networking session. Speakers then talk for approximately 15 minutes each, presenting information and ideas based on their own experience. Afterwards, there is plenty of time for questions and discussion.