The report documents 18 European projects involving citizen-generated data. After the

phase of desk research, five interviews were also conducted with the organisers of the

selected projects. The goal was to compile a set of mini cases that illustrate the ways in

which past and present projects, set up in partnerships with local authorities in different

Member States, how thy involve citizens to collect data to inform public policy and serve

the public good (e.g., collect data on air and water quality). The sampled projects have

been driven by immediate interest in, and concern about local problems that affect citizens’

quality of life, and the need to provide evidence for local authorities to take action. These

initiatives indicate that CGD can have an impact by enabling a number of innovative

relationships with the public sector. They can provide the opportunity to find novel ways

of interaction, and open up channels of communication between policy-makers and

citizens.

The report points to three main aspects of CGD in terms of:

1) new forms of public participation and emerging roles for citizens and local

governments enabled by digital technologies;

2) rethinking relationships between citizens and local governments;

3) generating richer and trusted data to address current challenges.