On November 4th, at the Barcelona Provincial Council's stand at the Smart City Expo World Congress, the #20opendata 2026 Ranking was presented. This initiative celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Open Data Initiative and recognizes public projects that have transformed open data into value over the last decade. Pep Budí, Deputy Director of Digital Transformation at AOC, spoke to highlight the importance of municipal open data as a public service.
The consequence of this vision is the need to standardize municipal data so that a single application can serve all 947 municipalities in Catalonia. The Smart Local Governments Network is developing a common data and artificial intelligence infrastructure, based on the 'build once for everyone' shared model.
Ten years ago, opening data was primarily a gesture of transparency. Today, the recognized projects demonstrate that open data is an essential, albeit invisible, public service. The City Council, as the administration closest to citizens, generates daily data on population registers, mobility, facilities, air quality, contracts, and budgets. When this data is opened with quality, it allows citizens to monitor public management, businesses and entities to create new services, and the city council itself to make better evidence-based decisions.
Directive (EU) 2019/1024 already states that data must be open by design and by default. The practical lesson is that individual publication by each municipality hinders the creation of nationwide services. Therefore, AOC offers standardized data models and an open data portal that allow any municipality, regardless of its size, to publish data with the same standards as a large city.
The Smart Local Governments Network Agreement, promoted by the Generalitat, the four provincial councils, the Barcelona City Council, Localret, and AOC, is building data and artificial intelligence-based infrastructure and services for local government. This plan includes a common and federated Data Infrastructure, an ethical and transparent artificial intelligence, and ready-to-use data products and services, such as AI assistants and standardized dashboards. All of this is based on open standards to ensure digital sovereignty.
The alternative to this shared model would be fragmentation, where each entity buys its own portal and develops its own AI, preventing municipal data from becoming a nationwide service. The shared infrastructure ensures that a small municipality has the same resources as a large city, without duplicating efforts or costs. Municipal data is a common good at the service of citizens, and the goal now is to scale this model across the territory.
