Data sharing Ferrara: MoU for data space 


2023, January 31. One of the goals of the USAGE Project in Ferrara is to sign a long-term multilateral agreement for data space. 

This was the focus of a very productive workshop with all the stakeholders interested in the multilateral agreement. 


Municipality of Ferrara

Massimo Poletti spoke about the importance of data in so many initiatives in which the Municipality of Ferrara is involved, primarily within the context of EU-funded projects which provide financial resources difficult to find. Ferrara needs a widespread optical fiber infrastructure (with a Smart City logic), with a series of intelligent racks close to the roads, to which several types of sensors can be associated. What has been done? SDI complete renewal, creation of a data catalog, and of an open data portal. The Municipality is planning the creation of a geoportal. PDND/PNRR. 

Communication and information are crucial, Franco Beneventi stressed, if we want to engage citizens. LGD multilateral agreement, which should avoid overlapping and waste of effort, facilitate the entry of new partners. An initial list of data is already available, whilst other data will be generated from it. Roadmap bound to the USAGE project duration.

See the presentation here. 


Silvio Noce

We found the need to create a data governance model. Data Analytics is becoming increasingly important, but we need to use cutting-edge technologies and tools. From Big Data to Big Insights: here's how to create value from data. 

We need to build a suitable data infrastructure to support the municipality's policies, consistent with the EU legislative framework (primarily the Data Governance Act). Keywords: interoperability and interlinking. The data governance model must increase the trust of citizens and businesses. Access to data must be transparent and non-discriminatory. Also important is to ensure computational capacity (there are already investments in HPC resources-the Margarita/Emilia-Romagna Region project). It seems to me that the goal of stimulating interest and sharing ideas has been achieved. The next step will be: sharing a draft MoU; establishing a coordination/governance structure. The signing of the MoU is critical for the establishment of the data space. 


Deda Next

Piergiorgio Cipriano presented some cases for creating a data exchange model among different stakeholders. He put emphasis on the possibility (using QGIS) to access different kinds of data (including dynamic data) exposed by different data providers. 

Luigi Zanella carried out an example of the usefulness of cooperation within a data space for agriculture, lasting 6 months from the establishment of the technical cabin and the signing/operation of the agreement. A necessary condition is the definition of public interest, which fuels policy action.

See the presentation here.


Epsilon Italia

Giacomo Martirano supported the ability to mediate between the flexibility to adapt the different principles and the rigidity imposed by compliance with the legal framework (INSPIRE Directive). Just as it is important to reduce the risk of data spaces becoming new thematic silos, maximizing the reuse of common (mainly technical) rules.

See the presentation here.


Consorzio di bonifica

Alessandro Bondesan: see the presentation here.


ARPAE

It has the institutional mandate to make measurements and expose data. Currently there are 63 open data. This number will increase, thanks to the renewal of infrastructure.  The system that exposes the data shall be tested for robustness before exposing the open data. Where the request to present the data is linked to data that has not yet been completed, specific conditions shall be agreed.


HERA 

Multiple agreements must be signed, one for each municipality with a focus on the importance of priority data to be shared. HERA is open to data sharing.


Ferrara Tua

The data are crucial for the execution of services, such as those related to urban green maintenance. Each tree (geo-referenced) has an information sheet in which both open data and conditionally shareable data are listed.


Final comments: it is important to stimulate the agreement not to limit the scope of the data space only to the data exposed as open data. It’s also interesting to explore and implement “generic” governance models and specific agreements dealing with specific uses of non-open data, by different types of users.