Today, we’re delighted to announce the launch of a significant piece of research – the Open Data Barometer. This 77-country study considers the interlinked areas of open data policy, implementation and impact to produce a country ranking. This year’s inaugural edition of the Barometer sees the UK take top spot, followed by the USA, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark and Norway (tied), who make up the rest of the top five. Kenya is ranked as the most advanced developing country, outperforming richer countries such as Ireland, Italy and Belgium in global comparisons.

The Barometer highlights that – despite rapid progress – there is much more to be done to unlock the true benefits of Open Government Data. 55% of the countries we surveyed have open data initiatives in place, yet less than 10% of key government datasets across the world are truly open to the public. In a speech accompanying the launch today at the Open Government Partnership meetings in London, Sir Tim Berners-Lee will call on world leaders to back talk on transparency and accountability with action – by ensuring that important data which may be politically sensitive is not excluded from open data initiatives.

More details and the full report are available at www.opendatabarometer.org. Of course, all the raw data is available under an open licence for anyone to explore, interpret and remix. You can also read the press release.

An aside: this is our first major research collaboration with the team at the Open Data Institute…and we hope it is the first of many! We would also like to express our gratitude to those whose support has made the Barometer possible, most notably Canada’s International Development Research Centre (web.idrc.ca) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (www.gov.uk/dfid).