Jul-04-11 By Aminda
While the country of France is considered a leader in open innovation, the French government has long been stereotyped as bureaucratic and closed. However, openness is quickly infiltrating French government as shown in a recent crowdsourcing exercise to uncover lobbying practices. The project took place in connection with the French chapter of Transparency International.
Over a year’s time, 3,000 French citizens got involved, analyzing more than 1,100 reports that had been published between 2007 and 2011, connecting each lobbyist with an organization and interest. From that data, they were able to generate an interesting profile of the types of organizations getting the attention of MPs during hearings. For example, companies are more often listened to on topics like economy, energy, environmental and on transportation, culture or digital issues. On the other hand, civil society organisations are more presents in topics like development aid or veterans.