Government emphasises open standards and urges use of liberating alternatives
Sweden’s public administrations should use open IT standards and software “that frees the state administration from dependence on single technical solutions”, the government writes in its note on ICT, part of its 2016 budget plan. “For eGovernment solutions, IT standards will play an increasing role in the creation of reusable solutions.”
The budget plans were presented to the Swedish Parliament in September. The plans have not yet been approved by the Parliament.
Innovation
The emphasis on open ICT standards and software that helps to get rid of IT vendor lock-in is reiterated in a statement by Mehmet Kaplan, Sweden’s Minister for Information Technology and one of the OSOR Innovation Champions: “The use of common and open standards and technical specifications is a foundation for competitiveness, and reduces the risk for vendor lock-in. Solutions based on open source code provide additional benefits to governments and administrations.”
“The Swedish government encourages actions that support interoperability and information exchange between citizens, companies and agencies in the EU”, Minister Kaplan adds. “Open standards are fundamental when it comes to achieving the sharing and reuse of software.”
More information:
ICT section of the 2016 budget plans (in Swedish, PDF)
Swedish government ICT policies portal
Sweden’s 2016 budget proposals (in Swedish)
Innovation Champions