"Technology enables politics to be done in another way"

The Basque Government awarded the Autelsi prize for the best technological initiative in the public sector

The Basque Government has been awarded the Autelsi prize by the Spanish Association of Telecommunications and Information Society Users. During its VII Convention, the Association recognised the Basque Open Government the strategy as the best technology project or initiative in the public sector. This strategy of the Basque Government embodies the commitment of the Lehendakari, the Basque Premier, to imbue his Government with the values of openness, participation and collaboration of the Open Government during the current IX parliamentary term. The Basque Government's Deputy Minister for Public Administration, Elena Pérez, pointed out that Open Government is not a project, but rather "a philosophy that includes projects such as Irekia, Open Data, the reusing of the Basque Government applications through software forges, but, above all, it is proof that technology can get us out of the hole and turn the dream of a different type of politics into reality".

The Basque Government's Deputy Minister for Public Administration, Elena Pérez, the Director of Open Government and Online Communication, Nagore de los Ríos, and the Director of Citizen Services, Alberto Ortiz de Záraqte.

The Lehendakari's commitment to good government has been put into practice in the form of three projects, which together are the mainstays recognised by this award:

• Irekia (http://www.irekia.euskadi.net): the web portal which seeks to institute a new way of acting based on the Open Government values of Transparency and Participation. Thanks to the project, the Administration is listening for the first time.

• Open Data Euskadi (http://opendata.euskadi.net): the public open data project, pursuant to Act 37/2007 (which transposes Directive 2003/98/EC) concerning the reuse of public sector information and which reflects its key role for economic development in the information society. Open Data Euskadi is aimed at releasing data and, therefore, to the coproduction of public value and fostering transparency.

• Basque Government Software Forges (http://sale.euskadi.net): The strategy regarding free software and the setting up of a Forge platform, enshrined in the opening of a continuous release agenda, including, projects of the ilk of Irekia within the collaborative space.

The Spanish Association of Telecommunications and Information Society Users is a nationwide non-profit entity and represents the professional users of the telecommunication systems and information technologies. The mission of the Association is to "develop the Information Society in Spain, by fostering society in general and among users in particular, studying, researching and the objective disseminating of knowledge, in those areas directly or indirectly related to the Telecommunications Service and Information Society".