On February 6, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet with Open Government experts to discuss the use of open data to provide services in the interests of civil society and businesses and principles for data disclosure by state agencies as well as proposals to implement the Open Data Concept.

Minister for Cooperation with the Open Government Mikhail Abyzov, Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov, and leading experts and political analysts are also expected to attend the meeting.

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Open data which can be accessed by the general public is provided by state agencies and/or local governments of the Russian Federation. These computer-readable databases show the work of a state agency in carrying out its functions. All open data are to be published in open sources so that they can be accessed by external hardware components.

The open data ideology is supported by major countries and international organisations. In April 2012, Russia launched the process of accessing the Open Government Partnership, the largest international initiative in this area, which imposes a need to implement more active measures to post online open data.

In this regard, the Government was instructed by Presidential Executive Order No. 601 On Guidelines for Improving the State Administration System dated May 7, 2012 to ensure online access to open data contained in the databases of Russian state agencies.

On December 13, 2012, the Government approved the Concept for Posting Open Data on the Activities of State Agencies and Local Governments, which also includes an action plan -  a roadmap.

Under this Concept, these databases are to be posted online free of charge in a machine-readable format, which ensures they can be automatically processed for subsequent reuse without any need for manual preliminary changes.

The posting of online open data about the activities of state agencies and local governments is one of the basic objectives of the formation of the Open Government.

The implementation of the roadmap will make it possible to create conditions for obtaining maximum international, political, social and economic benefits from the use of open data by Russian citizens, the business community and public institutions.

The objectives of implementing the roadmap are:

• To increase the number of departments which post open data sections on their official websites;
• To increase the amount of information published in the form of open data, to improve the quality of open data and make it more relevant and reliable;
• To increase the number of business companies and non-governmental organisations that use open data;
• To increase the number of applications developed on the basis of information in the form of open data;
• To increase the number of open data databases using advanced formats, such as linked data format and RDF.

The implementation of the roadmap is expected to produce the following results:

• Increase the transparency and accountability of state agencies, develop civil society through the possibility of overseeing and monitoring the activities of state agencies, and increase the level of people’s trust in state agencies;
• Create a market of computer applications and services functioning on the basis of online open data about the activities of state agencies and local governments, reduce budget expenditures while  developing social services and support the knowledge management industry;
• Create a database for the implementation of Open Government concepts in Russia;
• Expand the relevant database for subsequent analysis and use by business agencies, research  organisations, educational institutions and private individuals to help them in their activities;
• Create additional opportunities for information cooperation between state agencies.