Open Government is conceived as a process of adaptation of institutions to the changes of an increasingly open, educated and informed society, which demands a greater democratic role. It is oriented to the new social needs with a clearly digital orientation by default, based on a social contract and the need to participate in the decision-making of the administration.
Open Government are those tools, reforms and laws that inaugurate a new form of relationship between institutions and citizens, more direct, close, empathetic and symmetrical; granting citizens a greater role in the construction of democracy. With a double objective:
Design more representative and legitimate public policies, with the participation of more actors, with a greater plurality of voices, especially those communities involved or directly affected by said policies.
But also, to make better policies, as more information is captured in order to produce more public and social value.
In Spain, each public Administration has exclusive competence in matters of Open Government, except in relation to transparency, for which Law 19/2013, of December 9, on transparency, access to public information and good governance establishes common minimum obligations. for all public administrations. In the Canary Islands it is regulated by Law 12/2014 on Transparency and Access to Public Information of the Canary Islands.
To fulfill the purposes, Open Government is basically made up of four dimensions: transparency, participation, collaboration and open data.