The workshop is part of the INSPIRE Conference 2017. It brought together pre-selected representatives of candidate, potential candidate, countries of the neighbourhood, and H2020 associated countries to discuss the challenges and perspectives of the emerging data driven economy in Central and Eastern Europe. 

The context of the proposed workshop was framed by the recently published Communication on “Building a European Data Economy” (COM(2017)9). It clearly highlighted the increasing importance of data as a driver for growth, innovation and job creation. It is estimated that by 2020 its value will increase, representing over 3 % of the EU GDP. 

At the same time there is no quantifiable evidence on the state and perspectives of the data driven economy in European neighbouring countries. It can however safely be assumed that the role of data in the Central and Eastern Europe will be following a similar pattern and is expected to increase considerably. Furthermore, in the target region there are some notable islands of success (e.g. Moldova Open Data initiative, globally recognized open source software created in Ukraine, etc.) that if re-used and extended, can further foster innovation and intensify growth.

Within this context, the proposed Workshop explored the implications and possibilities related with Data driven economy in Central and Eastern Europe. It was organized in collaboration with other international actors working within the target region on relevant topics such as the World Bank, UN Economic Commission for Europe and the FAO. Particular emphasis was put on benchmarking between countries and understanding the state-of-play of data-driven economies in the target region, and their possible implications and trade-off with EU Member states.

A report was the outcome of the workshop. It includes (i) country profiles organized in a comparable matter, (ii) conclusion on the main discussions points and summary from each session, and (iii) future policy directions and emerging opportunities.