The Use Case Observatory is a research project initiated and performed by data.europa.eu, the official portal for European open data, managed by the Publications Office of the European Union. The purpose of this research project is to contribute to data.europa.eu’s broader goal of measuring the economic impact of open data across Europe over a span of 3 years (2022–2025). The first volume of the observatory was published in 2022.

The value open data can offer society has been a topic of interest for many years. Several studies have measured the economic impact of open data and public sector information; however, the results of the studies vary, and no consistent picture of the impact of open data has been developed. This study investigates structured methods and indicators to measure the impact of open data and the possibilities of basing these indicators on existing datasets.

This report focuses on the European Union’s open data policies, more specifically on Directive 2019/1024 (EU), also known as the open data directive, which defines the concept of high-value datasets (HVDs). An Implementing regulation that must be implemented by June 2024 lays down a list of specific high-value datasets in each of the six main categories identified in the directive: geospatial, Earth observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, company and company ownership, and mobility.
This study, proposes a methodological approach that facilitates the identification and homogenisation of HVDs, using selected examples of HVDs from three distinct categories. The insights of this report provide a roadmap for homogenising datasets across European countries and enhancing interoperability.

Data has become the infrastructure on which modern economies are built. Nowadays, data is vital in every sector, and businesses of every size increasingly depend on it. At the same time, the reuse of open data in Europe still requires further research and implementation efforts to fully express its potential for public and private value creation.
This paper provides a review of the research conducted over the past two decades on how information generated by the public sector and released in an open data format may purposely be re-used by for-profit and not-for-profit private entities.

At the core of the European data strategy are common European data spaces. By providing relevant data infrastructure and governance frameworks, these data spaces should facilitate the pooling and sharing of data within and across sectors in Europe. An online panel was held on 7 June 2023 to discuss the potential of data spaces for Europe’s citizens, businesses and economy and how this changing data-sharing landscape affects the role of data.europa.eu. This report captures the outcomes of the panel discussion.