UNIVERSIDATA awarded for 'boosting the data economy'

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

The UNIVERSIDATA portal, of which URJC is a part along with UAM, UC3M, UCM, UHU and UVa, was recently awarded during the ASEDIE 2025 awards ceremony, in which the head of the Planning service, Lorena Rodriguez Ortego, was present representing URJC.

ASEDIE is the Multisectoral Information Association that brings together infomediary companies (a sector made up of companies that generate products and/or services for sale to third parties based on public sector information).

The award received by UNIVERSIDATA falls under the category of 'Driving the Data Economy' and "aims to highlight the fundamental role of information in economic development, both in Spain and globally. It is part of ASEDIE's project, which promotes awareness of the importance of open data and its impact on society. Through this, we encourage collaboration among all stakeholders for the benefit of the general public," according to the awarding organization.

For Joaquín Rams, Vice-Rector for Research, Doctoral Studies, and the Library, “this award primarily recognizes the harmonization of data processing and sharing, and the pursuit of transparency within institutions.” These are two of UNIVERSIDATA's defining characteristics, as this platform offers an open and collaborative approach to university data management.

As the Vice-Rector points out, “UNIVERSIDATA allows us to work collaboratively by integrating our data across universities, which is a significant achievement. We avoid duplication between institutions. Through the portal, we can also work with common standards, compare methodologies, and address the weaknesses of UNIVERSIDATA members through inter-comparative analysis.”

This portal represents “an innovative initiative in terms of collaboration and the proposed use of data. Work has begun on a different, open, and shared approach,” Rams points out.

The award received confirms that working side by side with 5 other Spanish public universities on this shared strategic infrastructure, in a collaborative and cooperative manner, represents a model of inter-university cooperation and puts URJC on the right track in this matter.