PSI Alliance annual conferece a success
PSI Alliance 2008 Annual Conference
12th June, the Residence Palace, Brussels
The first PSI Alliance Annual Conference was a considerable success attended by companies from across the PSI spectrum and with a number of high profile speakers. The aim of the conference was to gather the members of the Alliance to discuss and exchange knowledge of the opportunities and challenges of the re-use of PSI in Member States across Europe and to agree a strategy going forward. The added value of the PSI Alliance membership was immediately shown; members were able to share good and bad practices and gain an understanding of the situation in other countries across the EU.
Speakers at the conference included:
-
Javier Hernandez-Ros, Head of Unit, Digital Libraries and PSI, European Commission
-
Dr Graham Vickery, Head of Information economy group, the OECD
-
Christofer Fjellner, Member of the European Parliament
-
Sir Bryan Carsberg, President, the Locus Association
Key points from made in the course of the conference were:
- Fair and free competition is one of the cornerstones in EU policy and PSI re-use should therefore be an issue high up on the political agenda
- Services and products stemming from PSI re-use contributes to the EU objectives within the Lisbon Agenda for innovation, growth and jobs
- National Governments will earn more on tax revenues from companies using PSI than by trading with PSI themselves – obstacles such as access and pricing need to be addressed
- Awareness on the barriers for the re-use of PSI to European businesses must be raised with politicians and regulators at EU and national levels
- The re-use of PSI Directive must be strengthened and made more effective – this must happen now and not be postponed to an indefinite future
The PSI Alliance will work to support good practice by PSI producers and help expose the consequences of bad practice. The Alliance will engage with politicians at EU and member state level through an extensive contact program with the aim of briefing regulators about the need to enforce the existing re-use of PSI policy. During the coming months, the number one priority for the PSI Alliance will be to work together with the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament towards a strengthened Directive for the Re-Use of PSI during the review process.
|
