After hearing the promotion strategy for the government's open data reform from the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) today, Premier Sean Chen instructed the RDEC to work with the Executive Yuan's Legal Affairs Committee to speed up the drafting of the legal aspects of the plan to pave the way for government open data facilities. While working on open data, the government should consider the needs of other ministries, he added.
According to the premier, open data would enhance not only the transparency of government but also quality of life and industrial development in Taiwan. It would especially empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), he added. He instructed the RDEC to plan project promotion and urged the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and other ministries to respectively ascertain industries' and the public's needs and applications for their information.
Minister without Portfolio Chang San-cheng said that opening data for public use and business application, free of charge in most cases, with a copious, automated and systematic release and exchange, would inspire new services, generating economic output and greater convenience. The Ministry of the Interior's recently launched real estate price registration website, with a map showing property values in different areas, is one example, he said.
Major Western nations, the World Economic Forum and the World Bank have in recent years innovated in open government, Chang said, allowing citizens with cloud computing and mobile devices to use open data in creative ways and various convenience services to be developed across agencies.