paragraph. Whatever one may think about nuclear power, Fukushima remembered how important  
total transparency and accountability are in the management and maintenance of all power sources, 
and in the decision-making processes that create the corresponding public policies. 
For the meantime, we'll note how all these events seem to hint that structural need and bottom-up  
demand for Open Data are mounting everywhere, even in cultural contexts very different than those  
in  which  Open  Data  was  born,  and  even  if  sometimes  they  are  not  mentioned  explicitly  or 
consciously.  Even  in  Western  Countries,  the  high-level  motivations,  for  the  transparency  and 
governance models that inspire Open Data, from positions different than those from which the  
movement started, are increasing. In 1931 Pope Pio XI wrote, in the Encyclical Quadragesimo anno 
that: 
80. The supreme authority of the State ought, therefore, to let subordinate groups 
handle matters and concerns of lesser importance, which would otherwise dissipate its 
efforts greatly. Thereby the State will more freely, powerfully, and effectively do all  
those things that belong to it alone because it alone can do them: directing, watching, 
urging, restraining, as occasion requires and necessity demands. Therefore, those in 
power should be sure that the more perfectly a graduated order is kept among the 
various associations, in observance of the principle of "subsidiary function," the 
stronger social authority and effectiveness will be the happier and more prosperous the 
condition of the State. 
This is the principle of subsidiarity, often summarized in a way that may sound familiar to many  
Open Data advocates:  "What men can do by themselves with their own resources can't be taken  
away from them and assigned as a task to society" . In March 2011, journalist Guido Gentili made  
just this connection. After noting that the principle was also introduced in the Italian Constitution by 
the 2001 reform of article 118, he concluded that subsidiarity as a strategy for development isn't an 
English invention and the "Big Society" vision (a proposal in which Open data is key) would do  
good to Italy too". 
At a more practical and economical level, digital information continues to increase. In spite of  
mounting cost pressures, large public and private organizations have to maintain massive amounts  
of structured and unstructured data, that keep growing, both for their own internal needs and to  
simply  comply  with  government  regulations.  At  the  same  time,  signals  that  traditional  public 
services and the whole welfare state won't remain sustainable for long with traditional means,  
continue to arrive, therefore strengthening the search for radical, innovative and cost-effective  
solutions. 
Besides costs, another practical driver and justification for Open Data that is becoming more and  
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Copyright  2011 LEM, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. This work is released under a Creative Commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)