Joinup: Putting the "e" in eGovernment

Jean-Paul De Baets and Victoria Kalogirou, Joinup Project Managers, Interoperability Unit, Directorate-General for Informatics, European Commission

Joinup was created in 2011 by the European Commission to provide a common platform that allows public administrations, businesses and citizens to share and reuse IT solutions and good practices, as well as facilitates communication and collaboration on IT projects across Europe. Managed via the ISA² Programme, the Joinup online platform currently offers a plethora of interoperability solutions in every major policy domain, along with thousands of eGovernment-related material such as news and events.
 

Defining the future of public administrations... today
 

Joinup’s raison d'être is, simply put, to consolidate in a single point-of-reference all scattered open source interoperability solutions that reside in disparate online locations, such as local, regional, national and international public repositories, government websites and academic pages.

To accomplish this, Joinup has been designed in the most robust manner from the ground up, accommodating the following four core aspects:

• Collaboration features;
• Observatory functionalities;
• Central, federated catalogue space for interoperability solutions;
• Advanced catalogue search mechanisms.

These characteristics make it a one-stop shop for policy makers, IT experts and other interested parties to find quickly software, services or documentation. Advantages are offered to a wide range of target groups too, such as:

• Public administrations (lower development costs, dissemination of best practices, reusable solutions for free, powerful search tools, information exchange)
• Private sector (learning about public administrations’ needs, reference materials, development of better products)
• Academia and citizens (eGovernment factsheets, studies, use cases)

On top of that, the European Commission helps promote the European Digital Single Market and Digital Strategy through Joinup, thanks to its comprehensive list of interoperability solutions, the improved cooperation between users and target groups, and the gained efficiency of public services.
 

A small step for Joinup, one giant leap for eGovernment

Joinup is constantly evolving, continuously introducing a stream of improvements and new feature functionalities. Part of the focus is placed on making the platform more user- and mobile-friendly, optimising your search experience, and helping you quickly identify the solutions you are seeking. All this, of course, while making sure to keep the influx of unique, suitable solutions appearing on the platform.

Here is a quick preview of some recent, notable additions to Joinup’s portfolio:

• ADMS-AP v2.0 Importer: Joinup now supports version 2.0 of the Asset Description Metadata Schema Application Protocol. This version aims to extend the use of ADMS for the description of other types of interoperability solutions, meaning solutions covering the political, legal, organisational and technical interoperability layers defined by the European Interoperability Framework (EIF).
• Federation-ready: Thanks to ADMS-AP v2.0, Joinup can further enhance its catalogue of solutions by federating new, external repositories managed by public administrations in EU Member States, as well as from standardisation bodies. The successful pilot with the Spanish Centre for Technology Transfer (CTT) is proof that Joinup paves the way to a more robust and federated future for the platform.
• EIRA v3.0: Joinup, in coordination with the EU Publications Office, has added support for the newly released EIRA v3.0 architecture content metamodel, allowing solutions to be mapped to the latest metamodel viewpoint and key interoperability enablers viewpoint. 
• Joinup Licensing Assistant: With the Joinup Licensing Assistant, Joinup enables copyright owners to quickly identify suitable licences for distributing their software or data. It offers a common tool that includes up to 348 licences, improved categorisation compared to existing tools, direct links to each licence in the SPDX list, and up-to-date licence information.
• RSS feed service: Joinup has re-introduced the RSS feed, per collection level. Users can now launch their preferred RSS reader software to access – and subscribe to – the RSS feed of their choice.

Coming soon… in a web browser near you

For Joinup, the journey in the world of eGovernment interoperability has just begun. In the coming months, the platform will be introducing more innovative features and improvements such as: integration with GitHub for releases, redesigned search panels and functionality, migration of the Joinup sign-in process to the EU Login user authentication service, etc.

The above are but a few examples of what the Joinup platform has in store for its users. Thanks to your continuous – and highly constructive – feedback, the people behind Joinup are in a unique position to gather, assess and prioritise this input, transforming it into a versatile roadmap that meets user expectations.

And, of course, the best is yet to come in this digital journey of ours.

Joinup platform

Find out more about Joinup by visiting the actual platform.

If you have any questions, or want to find out more about its capabilities and features, then get in touch with us by using our contact form.

More things you can do:

• Register at the platform to be part of our privileged users;
• Explore the Joinup collection and access explanatory videos on topics such as accessing information, finding or updating solutions and uploading a news item;
• Stay tuned and engage on social media:
  • @Joinup_eu
  • Joinup Linkedin Group
• Subscribe to our newsletter to receive selected news and unique interviews from the platform.