The Region of East Macedonia and Thrace participates as a stakeholder in the interregional project “Enhancing the availability and processing of Open Data to support local development and urban transformation” (hereinafter 3 OD4GROWTH) of the INTERREG EUROPE program with the objective of Strengthening the availability, processing and further use of Open Data to support development in the AMTH Region.

OD4GROWTH aims to improve policies related to the regional and local data economy in terms of the availability and processing of Open Data by public and private bodies. In addition, it provides the opportunity for project partners, stakeholders and other bodies to actively learn from the experience and good practices of other regions that are more familiar with the field of Open Data, with the aim of improving regional development policy instruments.

The Region of East Macedonia and Thrace as a stakeholder, through the Regional Development Fund of the Region of East Macedonia-Thrace, which participates as a partner in the OD4GROWTH project, aims to:

• to identify the problems and needs for the availability and further use of Open Data in the AMTH Region
• identify actors and systems that can provide or exploit data and activate a regional ecosystem for open technologies
• to map the stakeholders and other important actors who should participate and interact with the project
• to highlight, promote and disseminate open technologies
• to educate through seminars and develop an open data culture
• to support the exchange of experiences for the benefit of public and private entities in the Region
• to formulate an Action Plan for Open Data in the AMTH Region with a ten-year horizon, taking into account the project processes and technological developments (e.g. Technical Intelligence)
• to enrich the Regional Smart Specialization Strategy (policy instrument)

 

Through the implementation of the project by the AM-Th Region Public Administration and in collaboration with the Transparency and E-Government Directorate of the AM-Th Region, an Open Data Strategy was developed, something pioneering for a Greek region.

The Strategy is a three-year Action Plan (2026-2028) with six strategic objectives.

Objective 1: Publication of 50 datasets on the National Portal data.gov.gr. We start with 25 sets in the first year and add 25 in the second. Priority is given to data that falls into the HVD categories. In case of development of a regional portal, it will be federated with the central one.

Goal 2: Training 100 employees. The training will cover: basic concepts of open data, posting process on the National Portal (data.gov.gr) and on the repository.data.gov.gr platform, protection of personal data under Law 4624/2019, anonymization techniques, and basic principles of data and metadata quality.

Objective 3: Development of an Information System to support the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3). Development of a system that will support the monitoring of innovation indicators, the Business Discovery Process (BDP), and the availability of open data to the research and business community, in alignment with openness specifications.

Objective 4: Compliance with openness standards in Information Systems. In the future or wherever possible, the existing PSs of the Eastern Macedonia-Thrace Region will be required to comply with the openness standards.

1. Open Data Strategy – Action Plan 2026 -2028

2. Regional Council Decision approving the Strategy - Action Plan