62 CLOSER TO BRUSSELS
The large audience gathered in Google’s modern Brussels offices
was introduced to the topic of Open Data by Alek Tarkowski, director of the Centrum Cyfrowe in Warsaw and co-author of the report “Road Map to Open Government in Poland”.
Following the opening speech delivered by Antoine Aubert,
host of the conference and director of Google Brussels, Jacek
Krupa, a member of the administrative board of the Małopolska Region, briefly presented the region’s new platform for public
In this age of changes, cities and regions which want to remain attractive for both citizens and entrepreneurs must ensure the effectiveness of local administration while offering flexible responses to a rapidly changing reality.
data sharing which is expected to be inaugurated in August this
year. It should be noted that this platform will be the second initiative of this type in Poland, and one of a few in Europe.
The next intervention was that of MEP Róża Thun, who underlined that in this age of changes, cities and regions which
want to remain attractive for both citizens and entrepreneurs
must ensure the effectiveness of local administration while offering flexible responses to a rapidly changing reality. In order to
face those challenges, the public sector in Europe must undergo changes, long term transformations that require a greater open-
ness of the administration, cooperation with various actors from outside the system, and above all, transparency in its activities.
During the first presentation, Katalin Galyas, strategic adviser on innovation for the City of Amsterdam, emphasized that
the key to remain at the forefront of Europe’s leading regional centers is to make public data available in a way that would
be accessible and comprehensible for a varied audience. Amsterdam, which together with Berlin stands among Europe’s