Open data has been a cornerstone of the smart city movement for many years. Smart city technologies depend on open data from city authorities and urban services for much of their core functionality – without access to transit data or GIS data, many applications simply could not work. But the need for open data extends beyond functionality, to the governance environment itself. Open data enables more accountability in government and it is crucial to establishing open, contestable markets for technology in city services.

Given the long history of the open data movement, and the crucial role it plays in smart cities, an open data policy is an obvious early candidate for the policy framework of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance.

Model Policy – English

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Model Policy – Japanese