OFE publishes High Level Policy Paper on text and data mining

For the past months, OFE [OpenForum Europe] has been involved in an intensive research process regarding the various arguments and approaches relating to text and data mining (TDM) in Europe, which culminated with the paper published today, titled “An analytical review of text and data mining practices and approaches in Europe”.

We have done an extensive desk research, including most of the benchmark reports, such as the European Commission funded Expert Group Report (2014), the study by De Wolf and Partners (2014), the UK IPO’s ‘Exceptions to Copyright’ brief (October 2014), as well as numerous other reports, position papers, articles and blog posts. The initial findings have been discussed at the Round Table that OFE organised in October 2015, the conclusions of which are available in the follow-up White Paper. The desk research and Round Table discussions have been complemented by a series of interviews with academics, researchers, start-ups, and more established companies (including publishers and infrastructure providers)

This paper does not limit itself at pointing to the various challenges faced by mostly all stakeholders, but it also provides policy recommendations based on what we concluded from the research process.

Some of the conclusions that we have drawn:
– The Commission needs to provide coherence and harmonisation for TDM across Europe, through a regulatory intervention proportional to the benefits of TDM and the costs of non-intervention.

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