The new group also wants to make digital data publicly available in order to increase openness and make it easier for citizens to get involved in the city administration.

"The Bern city council regularly considers requests for IT projects requiring millions for new hardware and software, or that involve renewing of existing applications", the Digital Sustainability Group said in a press statement via email. "The council is often faced with the challenge of having well-founded opinions regarding IT at the right time during the decision-making process."

To promote the concept of open government and open data, the group organised on 27 April 2012, the Bern Open Data Hackday. The meeting was addressed to graphic artists, designers, programmers and all persons interested in developing applications with data made available by the City Council.

The Bern Group for Digital Sustainability had its first kick-off meeting on 26 April 2012 with the support of twenty politicians from various political parties of the city. Members of the Group also include City Council members Giovanna Battagliero (Social Democratic Party) and Matthias Stürmer (Evangelical People's Party).

During its first session, the Group heard Daniel Brunner, Deputy Director of IT at the Swiss Federal Court, explaining the Court's open source strategy. Brunner also talked about OpenJustitia, an open source legal document management system developed and used by the Court.

During its next meeting, planned for June 2012, the Group will discuss the Bern City Administration's IT policy for the coming years.

Further Information:

• Original news article – Joinup website
• Announcement of the Bern Group for Digital Sustainability (in German)
• Bern Open Data Hackday 2012 (in German)
• OpenJustitia (in French)