"Clever use of data? We have the tools, you have the ingredients"

Data, yes, there is a lot of data, thousands, millions. Data from citizen information, mobility, energy, the transportation sector and so on. But how can all this data be used optimally, especially for public administrations? The European Commission's Big Data Test Infrastructure (BDTI) supports public administrations within the EU in experimenting with public sector data in the cloud - using open source tools.

“You have to think of it like recipes: you have the ingredients, i.e. the data, we have the tools and the result is great dishes,” said Maria Claudia Bodino in her keynote speech ‘From hype to action using the Big Data Test Infrastructure (BDTI)’ at the Smart Country Convention. It is something like a big data playground. Bodino is the team leader responsible for the BDTI at the European Commission.

All public administrations in the EU member states, whether regional or national, can apply and, if accepted, train in the use of data for six months free of charge in the cloud-based test environment with open source tools. Based on specific questions, they learn which data they need, which data is available or how others can be obtained, how the data is analyzed, evaluated and interpreted, and what risks and benefits it can bring. For future budget planning, they learn what costs would be incurred if the data were actually used outside the project.

Resource-saving public lighting thanks to big data

The Big Data Test Infrastructure (BDTI) was launched by the European Commission in 2019 and is funded by the Digital Europe Program (DEP). Information on how to apply can be found on the website https://big-data-test-infrastructure.ec.europa.eu/index_en, while a newsletter and webinars provide in-depth information on individual topics. “In this way, we are developing skills in the use of data in administrations,” said Bodino.

As concrete examples, she cited the city of Dublin, where information from weather stations and data on traffic and mobility was used to optimize public lighting and save energy and costs. According to Bodino, Florence used data to evaluate the effects of the coronavirus lockdown. Naples focused on urban planning in times of climate change and used mobility data, temperature measurements and other information to set up shade zones against extreme heat, for example. “Our project helps to show political decision-makers how data-based decisions can be made,” says the data expert.