The world we choose.

We envision an open world where all non-personal information is open, free for everyone to use, build on, and share, and where creators and innovators are fairly recognized and rewarded. We see a world where information helps deliver a balance of power, where we are free to make our own choices, with key information and insights available to all, leading toward sustainable development. Power can only be held through the openness of key information; inconsistencies will become clearer, and inefficiencies will be exposed far more quickly. With the latest data made publicly available, there is greater potential to understand pressing issues and identify practical measures to address challenges such as poverty, health, uneven development, and climate change.

The concept of openness is critical: information should be free for anyone, anywhere, to use for any purpose, so that everyone, citizens, scientists, activists, and entrepreneurs, has access to the information they need. Recent developments in information and communications technology are offering new ways for content to be published, connected, discovered, and used. This key information includes how governments spend public money, both their plans and the reality, so that they remain accountable to citizens; the laws that govern us; the results of elections; and maps and postcode information, the essential infrastructure of modern society. With this information in hand, we can begin to understand these issues, address them, and know whether our solutions are working.

We will pursue this vision in the following ways: