Press Room — Open Forum Europe

latest press releases

Press Release - OFE welcomes the European Commission's Cloud Computing Strategy and its focus on harnessing the buying power of the public sector Jan 26, 2012

OpenForum Europe supports the European Commission's determination to make Europe 'cloud active', as outlined in Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes' speech in Davos today.

We share her view that cloud computing has the potential to be a game-changer for our economy. If properly harnessed it will boost innovation and productivity and provide benefits for businesses of all sizes as well as for individuals.

The decision to avoid building a European super-cloud is a wise one. Europe is not alone in identifying the opportunities cloud computing provides. Europe will need to co-operate with other parts of the world in what is now recognized as a global phenomenon.

OFE applauds the determination of VP Kroes to protect users in the cloud by ensuring that their data is protected, and can be freely moved from one provider to another without encountering technical obstacles. Cloud computing should be just like the Internet itself - firmly based on principles of transparency, open access and open standards.

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Open Data Challenge awards 20,000 euros in prizes to Europe's most exciting projects in the field of open government data Jun 16, 2011

BRUSSELS, June 16^th 2011 - Europe's biggest ever open data competition concluded today when European Commission vice President Neelie Kroes handed out prizes totaling 20,000 euros at the Commission's Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels.

The winner of the biggest prize - a cheque for 5000 euros - for the best application based on open data was ZNasichDani from Slovakia, whose Fair Play Alliance app allows journalists and others to scrutinize government procurement contracts in her home country.

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OFE press release: European Commission adopts legal package on standardisation reform Jun 01, 2011

Brussels -The European Commission's proposal to open up EU's approach to standardisation will increase efficiency, openness, and transparency, Openforum Europe (OFE) said on Wednesday.

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OFE Procurement Report 2010: More than one in ten government IT tenders illegally specify brands May 23, 2011

Openforum Europe's annual assessment of procurement practice across the European Union reveals that for the third year running a significant proportion of government agencies are illegally specifying trademarks when they engage suppliers from the private sector for specific IT contracts worth billions of euros.

Press Release - Open Data Challenge goes live, offering 20,000 euros in prizes Apr 06, 2011

The Open Data Challenge launches this week offering €20,000 in prize money to encourage people to think of interesting ways of reusing public data for the benefit of European citizens.

The pan-European competition encourages those with programming skills to have a go at building their dream app using public data. But it doesn’t matter if you aren’t a computer geek. There’s a section of the competition called ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if...?’, which allows anyone to submit an idea for how to reuse public data.

Public bodies generate a huge amount of data about every aspect of our lives; everything from how our hard earned tax is spent to statistics about bicycle accidents on inner city roads. Much of this data never sees the light of day, and just sits gathering dust in a bureaucrat’s office, but this is changing.

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Openforum Europe welcomes the publication of the UK Government's ICT strategy Mar 31, 2011

OFE - The UK Government published its long-awaited ICT Strategy document today, confirming its determination to move the public sector in the UK away from being locked in to large scale single supplier proprietary software solutions.

Openforum Europe (OFE) welcomes the move and congratulates the UK Government on its visionary thinking, and urges local and regional public bodies around the UK to follow central government's lead.

“The Strategy focuses on an open approach to ICT, mandating open standards, re-aligning the playing field for open source, and encouraging greater SME participation in government ICT contracts. This is all to be commended,” said Graham Taylor, chief executive of OFE.

Full text of the Press Release

OFE Press Release - UK Government pushes for open standards and open source software Mar 02, 2011

Three new government initiatives in the field of open public sector computing in the past month show that at a national level at least, the UK is one of the strongest supporters of open standards and open source software in Europe. Unfortunately at grass roots level local governments around the UK remain stubbornly wedded to proprietary computer systems that lock them and their citizens' data into closed computer systems.

European Interoperability Framework – a bold move to spread the benefits of open standards and interoperability Dec 16, 2010: OFE Press Release - After over two years of controversial debate and under intense scrutiny from the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, the European Commission has shown courage by adopting a bold set of guidelines to help national, regional and local governments throughout the European Union make their computer systems all work properly together.; More

European Commission's eGovernment Action Plan champions interoperability and open standards in IT Dec 16, 2010: OFE Press Release - Openforum Europe welcomes the European Commission's groundbreaking plan to connect governments around Europe with their citizens and businesses using open, flexible, cost-effective and collaborative IT technologies. The eGovernment Action Plan unveiled this week lives up to the ambitious vision expressed by national governments in their 2009 Malmo Declaration, and lays the foundation for building a smart, interconnected and inclusive public sector across Europe.; More

New horizontal guidelines a shot in the arm for standardization Dec 15, 2010: OFE Press Release - Openforum Europe's reaction to the European Commission's adoption on Tuesday of a new set of rules governing how competitors in an industry can co-operate without falling foul of competition rules:; More