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Tue, Feb 11 2014 22:19:47

"Big & Open Data in Europe" - Conference Summary

Are you interested in the conference, but missed the buzz? Don't worry, we have it covered for you! Here is an overview of social media & press coverage. See what happened in one comprehensive summary!

  1. The aim of the extensive 116 page report presented on January 29th at the European Parliament in Brussels titled: "Big and Open Data in Europe: A growth engine or missed opportunity?" was to examine the impact of big and open data on the economic and social aspects across the EU's 28 Member States by 2020. You can download the full report here:download 

  2. The event was co-hosted by MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament Jacek Protasiewicz and gathered the  MEPs, European Commission Staff, Academics as well as other influencers and generated much discussion. Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman of Microsoft Europe, delivered a keynote speech, highlighting the importance of Big and Open Data to European competitiveness and the significant opportunities it offers, particularly in the fields of Education and Healthcare.
  4. Citing after Florin Zubascu from Science Business, Jan Muehlfeit also said at the launch of the report: "Big and open data has the potential to unlock new growth, new jobs and new opportunities for all Europeans. Big data can help in the reform of the European education by improving learning processes, and it can help in creating more efficient healthcare services by creating a link between patient lifestyle and the appropriate care".
  5. President of the Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies and report co-author, Maciej Bukowski added: "Europe can enjoy massive benefits for increased innovation and growth by embracing big and open data. At the EU-wide level, creating a truly single digital market will lower the entry barriers to the big data industry, enabling an easier creation of universal, pan-EU ICT solutions with lower costs for consumers and the public sector. The challenge is to incorporate big and open data into a broader reform agenda for Europe - one that reflects post-crisis economic realities, and fuels new engines for economic growth for the future."
  6. The following facts presented in the report were noticed and widely commented on in social media:
  13. And here we present a few of the close to 200 twitter reactions to the information presented in the report and discussed during the conference:

  25. Media Coverage: more than 20 publications appeared in reference to the report in Spanish, French, Portugese, Polish, Hungarian Romanian and Bulgarian media. Here we present a few excerpts pointing to what information was highlighted and some photo coverage:  


    Robin Wauters, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Tech.eu writes: "If nothing else, the full report manages to give readers a clear insight to what exactly constitutes as ‘big’ and ‘open’ data, and explains how it might be able to make a clear economic impact in Europe."
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