The Suomi.fi Open Data service is a national service for publishing and utilising open data. The service forms a directory of open data available in Finland. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency is responsible for developing the service.

The Suomi.fi Suojattudata service is a national central data point that describes the datasets of different public administration organisations. The service can be used for searching data, and it contains a summary of all datasets covered by the Data Governance Act. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency is responsible for developing the service

The Suomi.fi Data Exchange Layer is intended for all users who exchange information with public administration actors. Under the Act on Common Administrative e-Service Support Services (571/2016), public sector organisations are obligated to use the service for their data transfers. The service provides a secure method for transferring information between the information systems of different organisations. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency is responsible for developing the service

Data.europa.eu is the official portal for European data, where all open data portals in the European region are harvested, including the Suomi.fi Open Data service. The portal is maintained by the European Commission. 

In 2017, the Ministry of Finance initiated the creation of a memorandum on Finland’s need for an information policy (in Finnish), which laid the foundation for information policy as a new policy area. Shortly after this, a report on ethical information policy in the era of artificial intelligence (in Finnish, pdf) was completed and submitted to Parliament in December 2018 by Prime Minister Sipilä’s Government. In this report, information policy was examined not only from the perspective of information management but also from the viewpoints of the prerequisites for using information, underlying values, ethical principles and economic impacts. The report serves as a knowledge base and policy on the basis of which measures can be prepared in the future.

The goals of Prime Minister Marin’s Government Programme (10 December 2019) included deepening the management of information policy and making openness the overarching principle of information policy. Utilising and providing information in a proactive and diverse manner is stressed as one of policies in the Strategy for Public Administration Renewal, which will guide and support the renewal of the entire public administration sector in the 2020s.

The project on opening up and using public data set up by the Ministry of Finance for 2020–2022 contributed to the achievement of the objectives of Prime Minister Marin’s Government Programme, for example by drawing up a proposal for strategic objectives for information policy. These strategic information policy objectives were adopted on 17 March 2022 as part of the Government resolution on the using and opening of information. The purpose of the strategic objectives and the measures through which they are achieved is to support the public administration in using and opening data through common, cross-cutting objectives and actions. Read more about the Government Resolution (in Finnish) .

The strategic objectives of information policy apply especially to public administration actors. The resolution provides guidelines and policies for the preparation of official actions related to the utilisation and opening of information in central government.

The objectives are divided into four themes:

1. Steering, coordination and cooperation
   1. The utilisation and opening of information are steered and coordinated nationally.
   2. Clarifying laws, decrees, and regulations, as well as principles and policies to enable the more efficient utilisation of information.
   3. The utilisation and opening of information will include extensive cooperation across sectoral boundaries between the public, private, and third sector, and with international actors.
2. Strategy and action
   1. Focusing on customer needs, adopting a more customer-oriented approach, and ensuring equality are the starting points for the utilisation and opening of information.
   2. The societal value and impact of information, as well as the benefits of its utilisation and open provision, have been identified.
   3. Organisational strategies support the utilisation and opening of data.
   4. Information is used responsibly, and the dissemination of false information in society is prevented.
3. Information management
   1. Information environments are known and the information resources are easy to find and clearly described.
   2. Key national information resources have been identified, and their data can be utilised centrally.
   3. The data to be used are interoperable and of high quality, in accordance with national quality criteria.
   4. The information is available through APIs that are in active use.
   5. Information security and data protection risks have been identified, and safe practices have been created for the utilisation and opening of data.
4. Supportive factors
   1. The utilisation and opening of information have been adequately resourced.
   2. Comprehensive national support and guidance is available for the utilisation and opening of information in different forms.
   3. The level of competence in the utilisation and opening of information is high, and clear training paths are available for competence development.
   4. Open platforms, development environments, and tools are available for the utilisation and opening of information.

• A guide on information policy titled A sustainable direction for information policy – Onwards in an era of transformations (in Finnish, pdf)  has been prepared.
• The Ministry of Finance's package of measures for implementing information policy includes
  • Introduction to information policy online training (in Finnish) on the eOppiva that is open for anyone. The training is based on the information policy guide and invites participants to consider the significance of data in their work and, more extensively, in society as a whole.
  • Approaching information – from information policy to action podcast (in Finnish).

In practice, knowledge-based management can be carried out in very different ways. The method used depends on the organisation's structure, management practices and the way in which the organisation chooses to use information in its decision-making and operational development.

The first step in the knowledge-based management process often is defining a problem or a goal. Next, the necessary information is mapped and collected from different sources and made available to the needed extent. After this, the organisation can utilise and analyse the information and draw its own conclusions about it.

Figure: The knowledge-based management process

Knowledge-based management can rely on both internal information generated in the organisation's own activities and external information, which may include information describing the operating environment. In the social welfare and health care sector, for example, information about the organisation's own activities is quite central. On the other hand, business data collected by public administration is a good example of the data that many companies use as an external source of information in their own knowledge management. 

The preconditions for knowledge-based management are rather good today, as public administration organisations are already widely sharing their public data, either as open data or on a contractual basis. At the practical level, however, the utilisation of data is often hampered by factors related to the implementation, use, or quality of the data.

Additional information on the basics and practices of knowledge-based management can be found in the following sources:

• Knowledge management (in Finnish). Tampere University of Technology, NOVI – Research Group for Information and Knowledge Management. 2013.
• Tietojohtaminen association's materials (in Finnish)
• State Treasury's knowledge management materials
• Handbook on knowledge management (in Finnish) (Southeastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Miia Kosonen)

Tietokiri led by the State Treasury was one of the projects aiming to promote a culture of knowledge-based management in public administration. The aim of the project was not only to create new services (including a shared data platform and analysis and reporting services) but also to make the results of knowledge-based management visible and share good practices. Networking and cooperation have been the cornerstones of these efforts, and besides the State Treasury, the participants have included the Ministry of Finance that guided the work, Finnish Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR Palkeet, Hansel, National Land Survey of Finland, HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd and DigiFinland.

One of the most important objectives of Tietokiri was to combine data administrated by different actors in order to make more efficient use of it and to increase transparency in public administration. The shared data platform contains information on central government activities, finances and administration residing in the registers of joint service providers. The analysis platform is used by Palkeet's and the State Treasury’s analysts to process information on behalf of the state’s ministries and agencies. The data platform can also be used to combine data collected from different sources, enabling the generation of new information. It is also used to ensure that the aggregation process does not result in data that must be classified in accordance with the relevant security classifications. When data is transferred to the reporting platform from the analysis platform, it is done in a way that ensures that the data does not contain any personal data or confidential information, in accordance with the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

The benefits of compiling shared central government data are multiple: openness and transparency in administration are increased and a more uniform information architecture will improve predictability and comparability and, on the other hand, the collection of data will require less resources in the future.

Tietokiri has compiled different interesting examples of knowledge management in the valtiolla.fi website (in Finnish).

The Government's analysis, assessment and research activities produce information to support decision-making, knowledge-based management and practices. These activities are guided by the Government's annual assessment and research plan. The maximum duration of projects carried out following this plan is three years. The criteria for evaluating projects are their relevance, impact, usability, quality and feasibility. Read more about the Government’s assessment and research projects. As part of its Government Programme, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government has decided to discontinue these activities.

The Tietojohtaminen association (in Finnish)  promotes data-based value creation and the utilisation of information in decision-making and all societal activities. The association raises awareness of knowledge management, issues statements, provides training related to its field for public and private sector organisations, and publishes a blog and a journal titled Tietoasiantuntija.

The Tietojohtamisen verkosto association (in Finnish) was established to disseminate information on good practices in knowledge management, especially in the social welfare and health care sector, and to promote collaboration in national knowledge management. The association provides up-to-date information on knowledge management themes in the form of blog posts, webinars and seminars.

In April 2020, Helsinki Graduate School of Economics (Helsinki GSE) established an Economic Situation Room that provided information to support the economic policy-related decision-making of ministries and other public bodies during the coronavirus pandemic. The aim of the Situation Room was to provide nearly real-time information on developments in the corporate sector, the labour market, and society as a whole. Helsinki GSE specialises in research and education in economics.

Established in 2022, the Data Room (in Finnish) is a unit of the Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT) that focuses on fast-paced research to support evidence-based decision-making. It works in close cooperation with Helsinki GSE and Statistics Finland. The Data Room was granted funding for three years (2023–2025) by the Ministry of Finance.

Research and education in information management have been conducted in the University of Tampere for more than 20 years. Its research in the fields of information system science (IS) and knowledge management (KM) is internationally recognised. More information about the NOVI Research Group for Information and Knowledge Management (in Finnish).

According to section 4, subsection 2 of the Information Management Act, the information management entity's management body must ensure that the entity is provided with up-to-date instructions concerning

• the processing of datasets
• the use of information systems,
• data processing rights,
• the implementation of information management-related responsibilities,
• the exercise of the right of access to information,
• information security measures, and
• the preparedness for emergency conditions.

The management body determines how the instructions are kept up to date and which actors are responsible for ensuring that they are up to date.

Under the Public Information Management Act, the management body must also ensure that the entity has training available to ensure that the personnel and those acting on behalf of the information management entity have adequate knowledge of the provisions, regulations, and instructions of the information management entity in force relating to information management, data processing, and publicity and secrecy of documents.

The Information Management Board has issued a recommendation on fulfilling the management’s responsibilities in information management (in Finnish, pdf) (Ministry of Finance publications 2020:18), according to which it is advisable to assign responsibility for keeping the instructions up to date to the actors who have overall responsibility for information security, information systems, information resources, controlling registers, decision-making related to document access requests, case management, and archiving.

Competence in opening data can be accumulated by reading books and other resources on the topic. Here is a list of other useful resources (available primarily in Finnish):

• Public data – Introduction to opening data repositories (pdf)
• Finnish Heritage Agency's guide to opening data
• City of Helsinki's guide to developing digital services
• Training materials of Helsinki Region Infoshare service
• Instructions for opening the purchase invoices of municipalities and joint municipal authorities

Competence in opening data can be developed by participating in training that is available online or at in-person events.

Open online training:

• eOppiva online training (in Finnish) on data sharing, data quality, and the interoperability of data.
• Datakoulu.fi is a website maintained by Open Knowledge Finland that collects education and study opportunities offered in the field of open information and open data.
• Open science training promotes openness in the operating culture of science and research, and supports stronger competence in open science. 
• Data.europa.eu service eLearning training
• Internationally, training related to open data is offered by such providers as the Open Data Institute.

The HRI service organises training related to opening data for employees in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area cities regularly several times a year. The training covers such aspects as the basic concepts of open data, the process of opening data, HRI's activities and the organisation of opening data in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The purpose of the training is to raise awareness of the opening of data and the benefits of open data as well as to provide concrete instructions for opening data. More information and training materials (in Finnish).

The Data Support Network supports cooperation between CSC – IT Center for Science and data support staff in research organisations. The aim of the network is to establish an informal dialogue between data experts in different organisations, enabling peer support and low-threshold questions and answers.

The Data Support Network's website contains a large volume of training material on sharing research datasets and CSC’s services in the form of webinars, videos, and PowerPoint presentations.

Tasks of enabler:

• Initiates the formation of the ecosystem
• Defines value proposition, strategic goals, and ethical principles
• Ensures that the activity has an owner
• Fosters credibility

Tasks of owner:

• Takes responsibility for practical activities
• Prepares a long-term development plan
• Is responsible for the functioning of the ecosystem, platform, and API 
• Surveys actors and verifies their commitment to the data ecosystem

Common tasks of enabler and owner:

• Prepare the ecosystem's future vision and determine the target state that is to be achieved over a certain period of time
• Assess and verify the amount of funding

Tasks of operator:

• Looks after the platform’s technical maintenance and monitoring activities. This role is often handled in cooperation with an external IT company.

Common tasks of owner and operator:

• Agree on practical matters

Tasks of data producer:

• Shares data that meets customer needs
• Takes feedback into account so that the opened data actually produces value and the user of the data can use it to build their own services

Common tasks of operator ja data producer:

• Jointly ensure that the data to be shared is of high quality and interoperable

Tasks of data user:

• Provides feedback on the data to the data producer
• Produces services using the data
• Creates a value proposition for their activities
• Produces content
• Acquires customers 
• Shares the service to their customers

Common tasks of data producer and data user:

• Collaborate with each other

A hackathon is an event where teams of different sizes create various solutions to specific challenges or assignments. The challenges may be presented by a public administration organisation or a company, for instance. The teams participating in a hackathon usually consist of persons from different fields and backgrounds with a self-motivated interest in the topic.

The typical duration of a hackathon is a few hours or days, and the teams must complete their solutions during the event. The party setting the challenge often presents a prize for the best solutions at the end of the event.

Hackathons are usually relaxed events that offer good opportunities for networking and finding partners. In Finland, various actors have been active in organising hackathons in recent years. While their themes vary greatly, hackathons quite often encourage the use of open datasets, which has also created great added value for solution development. The outcomes of hackathons can bring publicity to open data and increase the number of users.

Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon

The University of Helsinki organises the annual Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon. This event has been organised since 2015.

Statistics Finland’s Datamenestyjät competition

The Datamenestyjät competition (in Finnish) for parties using Statistics Finland’s datasets creates societal benefits by improving data literacy, promoting and developing open data use, and developing the preconditions for knowledge-based decision-making in society. The competition seeks successful practical implementations based on data and the possibilities of using open data.

Open Finland Challenge

A national open data brainstorming competition was organised in Finland for several years to produce innovations that promote open society and to find solutions to challenges related to different themes. This competition led to the creation of several open data applications, such as the Miils recipe planning and sharing service and The Flow Towards Europe, which visualises the refugee crisis.

{API:Suomi} is a public and open Facebook group for discussing open data, APIs, the API economy, the standards in the field, and other relevant issues. The group is an informal platform for sharing information. Its members include business managers, experts, public officials, scientists, civil society actors, investors, and representatives of API product and service companies.

The AvoinGLAM network works together with cultural heritage organisations to promote the opening of cultural data and digital contents, as well as the use of open datasets. AvoinGLAM is part of the international OpenGLAM network, which consists of actors working with open content and data.

The network has a public Facebook group called Avoin GLAM. AvoinGLAM currently operates under the auspices of OKFI in close cooperation with Wikimedia Finland.

Finland has been a member of the international Open Government Partnership project since 2013. In this project, each country promotes the openness of its government through two-year action plans. 

The Ministry of Finance has published an open government strategy that guides this work in Finland. You can read more about the Open Government Strategy on the Avoinhallinto.fi website.

The open government strategy has four focus areas that guide the activities under the Open Government Action Plan in the 2020s.

• Open government enhances dialogue in society.
• Open government promotes everyone's right to understand and be understood.
• Through management and competence, an opportunity to participate can be secured for everyone.
• Finland is an active promoter of open government in international forums.

Open data is one of the themes of open government, as it increases the transparency of public administration and prevents corruption. Read more on the Open Government website.

Creative Commons Finland (CCFI) is a network that represents the global Creative Commons network in Finland. CCFI operates under OKFI.

CCFI manages the creativecommons.fi website (in Finnish) and has coordinated the preparation of Finnish translations of the different versions of Creative Commons licences.

The Fairdata network promotes cooperation and information exchanges between the organisations using the Fairdata service package and CSC – IT Centre for Science Ltd. Fairdata services are provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture to facilitate the management of digital datasets. The Fairdata services enable the proper management, safe storage and discoverability of research data and the associated metadata. Fairdata services are provided and maintained by CSC. Everyone interested in using and developing the Fairdata services is welcome to participate in the network.

The Finnish Open Data Ecosystem (FODE) Facebook group is a public group established in 2009 and administrated by OKFI that welcomes everyone interested in open data. It is Finland's largest open data Facebook group with around 5,000 members.

Convened by Fintraffic, a large number of transport sector actors are working together to build a data-based traffic ecosystem. Its objectives include improving data interoperability through open APIs. Collaboration between the actors aims for creating competitive and scalable transport and mobility services for both the domestic and international markets that enable safe, low-emission and user-centric travel and transport chains by combining different modes of transport.

Read more about the traffic data ecosystem. 

HRI Loves Developers is about communication and cooperation aimed at developers interested in open data in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. It is coordinated by Helsinki Region Infoshare, which is the joint open data service of the cities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. One of the communication channels for these activities is the public Facebook group HRI Loves Developers. HRI organises developer meetings open to everyone that focus on a specific theme four to five times a year. Read more about developer cooperation in the cities of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

In addition to the developer meetings, HRI organises courses and lectures in cooperation with higher education institutions in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. HRI experts have given a number of individual lectures at higher education institutions on open data and open spatial datasets as well as the potential of using them. HRI has also organised courses together with Metropolia University of Applied Sciences for several years. On these one-semester courses, the students work in small groups to create mobile applications associated with the themes or data provided for them.

KIRAHub (in Finnish) is a real estate and construction sector ecosystem whose vision is to make Finland a pioneer in sustainable digitalisation of the built environment. KIRAHub collects and also develops platforms needed to accelerate sustainable digitalisation in the industry, including the Urban3 ecosystem space, international WDBE conference and KIRAHVI open discussion forum.

The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities is a lobbyist, development partner and provider of expert and information services in the local government sector, the members of which are Finnish municipalities and cities. Regional councils, other joint municipal authorities, and limited liability companies with municipal backgrounds are also involved in its work. Finnish municipalities are independent producers and users of information. Especially for small municipalities, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities and the guidelines, manuals, training and services it provides are essential to enable the opening of data. Read more about the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities’ services (in Finnish). 

The Facebook group for municipalities’ open data called Kuntien avoin data is a public network set up for the needs of those involved in the opening of local government data and information. In this group, municipalities and other parties working together with them, including higher education institutions, companies, other authorities and different communities or individual people, can share information, ask questions about opening data, share tips about where to find data, search for partners and provide each other with peer support as parties opening data and government in municipalities. The group is administrated by the relevant experts of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities.

The International Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) network has laid the foundation for data-based collaboration that aims to promote interoperable solutions, corporate innovations, and the creation of smart services. This network established in 2015 includes cities in Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Spain and Brazil. The aim is to allow cities to build services based on uniform APIs and data models selected on the basis of authentic user experiences.

Open Knowledge Finland (OKFI) (in Finnish) is a non-profit organisation established in 2012 that promotes the opening and utilisation of data. The organisation is a partner association of the international Open Knowledge network in Finland. It is a network of a few hundred members, a dozen organisations and a few thousand people with an active core team of around 40 professionals and activists that promotes the attainment of the organisation's goals through both projects and lobbying.

Finnish Information Society Development Centre (TIEKE) is an independent, non-profit Finnish association whose mission is to bring information society stakeholders together to develop Finnish information society practices, for the benefit of citizens and businesses. Its membership consists of both private companies and public and third sector organisations. TIEKE focuses on developing digital competence, promoting digital operating processes and Influencer-Networker-Accelerator activities. TIEKE organises network activities aiming to identify trends and digital societal development needs and to accelerate desirable development with a societal impact. 

The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies coordinates the national Open Science and Research Strategy and the policies, recommendations and guidelines contained in it, which have a strong guiding effect on the opening of data possessed by higher education institutions and research institutes (research articles, teaching materials, teaching practices, operating culture). The Federation’s work has brought together researchers, university libraries, scientific clubs and government agencies at the national level. Read more on the Open science website.

The aim of the Open data network is to make information as openly accessible as possible in Southwest Finland. Important goals of the network include building up the knowledge base of regional development and decision-making, supporting civil society and improving the preconditions for business.

At the centre of this network are Lounaistieto, the City of Turku and Turku Science Park Ltd, in addition to representatives of other local organisations. Everyone interested in the theme is welcome to join the network, including representatives of municipalities and other public administration actors as well as educational institutions and associations, entrepreneurs and application developers. The network promotes the use of spatial data and open data across a broad front. Read more about the open data network in Southwest Finland (in Finnish).

The public Facebook group for authorities’ open network called Viranomaisten avoin verkosto is a stemming from a desire to cross boundaries and reform public administration, turning it into an open and efficient enabler. The network is a meeting place for agents of change, a marketplace for data, a venue for exchanging ideas and a sparring ring for wild visions.

Wikimedia Finland (WMFI) (in Finnish) is the Finnish partner association of the international Wikimedia Foundation. It coordinates Finnish-language Wikimedia projects (including Wikipedia, Wikiopisto, Wikikirjasto). As all Wikimedia projects are based on open data, WMFI is a key user of open data. The most important Wikimedia project in terms of open data is Wikidata.