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On the eve of Prince’s Day (Budget Day), for the first time in the Netherlands, Accountability Hack took place. During this hackathon government spending and performance was mapped with open data.

From ministries to municipalities, the Dutch government spends billions of euros per year. Public money collected to through tax paid for the most by all of us. These financial flows and plans were until recently only found in very large budget books and annual reports.

Government spending and performance

With larger amounts available open data, information from government authorities may become more useful and understandable. Is it possible to track government money flows properly? Is it possible to map the performance of government? What data are there and what data are missing?

By bringing developers, data professionals, policy makers and political representatives together during Accountability Hack, the potential of open data has been utilised. At this hackathon participants, programmers and developers were challenged to create a prototype app or web application that controls the government in an innovative way.

Accountability Hack is organised by the General Court of Audit, Ministries of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Finance and Infrastructure and the Environment, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and Open State Foundation. The hackathon was held on 9 September 2016 from 9.00 to 21.00 in the building of the Court of Audit on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague.