Taiwan has come out on top among 122 nations and areas in this year’s Global Open Data Index, emerging as the first non-European nation to place in the top three, according to Open Knowledge International, which released the index on Tuesday.
The result represented a major leap for Taiwan, which finished 36th in 2013 and 11th last year in the annual index that measures how open governments are in providing key information.
However, in a statement on this year’s index, Open Knowledge International said that “significant progress is still to be made, as Taiwan’s overall score reveals that their data is only 78 percent open.”
“Crucial datasets such as government spending, postcodes and land ownership are still closed and inaccessible to citizens,” the British non-profit organization said.
Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said that open data and value-added applications are an important strategy for promoting good governance, service innovation and overall economic development, and are a solid foundation for the government’s Internet policy, called “ide@Taiwan.”
Under the policy, concrete goals and plans were drawn up for the nation to become fully digitized by 2020, according to the Executive Yuan.
Rounding out the Open Data Index top 10 following Taiwan were the UK, Denmark, Colombia, Finland, Australia, Uruguay, the US, the Netherlands and Norway.
The next-highest ranked countries in Asia were India at 19th, South Korea at 23rd and Singapore at 25th.
While the top rankings remained dominated by OECD members, three non-OECD nations broke into the top 10 this year for the first time, Open Knowledge said, referring to Taiwan, Colombia and Uruguay.
“Overall, whilst there was meaningful improvement in the number of open datasets (from 124 to 154), the percentage of open datasets across all the surveyed countries fell from 11 percent in 2014 to 9 percent in 2015,” the group said. “It is clear that little progress has been made at the global level.”
According to Open Knowledge, the index is the result of civil society collaboration to track the state of open data in countries and places around the world.
The index ranks nations based on the availability and accessibility of data in 13 key categories, including national statistics, government budgets, government spending, legislation, election results, procurement tenders and national maps.
Other categories are pollution emissions, weather forecasts, company registers, location datasets, water quality and land ownership.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it