How opening up data on publicly funded research became a driver of innovation in Flanders. The use case of FRIS

Abstract

33.000 research projects. 80.000 researchers. 378.000 scientific publications. This is the amount of data from scientific research that are being collected by Flanders Research Information Space (FRIS), a program run by the Flemish Government (Department Economy, Science of Innovation). Information comes directly from 34 research institutes whose processes and systems are aligned to support the government's strategy that opening up data is essential for driving knowledge transfer to the industry and the broad public. Data is being fed continuously and in an automated way into the Flemish information space.

Our aim? To find expertise in Flanders, lead to new insights and create an innovation-driven economy. That's why we promote openness of research and redesign some of the existing information flows in Flanders, reduce the administrative burden of reporting by requesting information only once, make innovation strategies more efficient and effective, and make all our research data accessible and publicly available for reuse via open API'S. This is FAIR data at work! #winner of an e-gov Awards "Open Data" and "Best Project 2018".