In recent years, "intelligent territories" projects have been multiplying. National calls for projects are encouraging local authorities to organize the collection and massive use of data for public policy purposes, including through the use of artificial intelligence. At a time when cyber risks are greater than ever, the issue of digital sovereignty is of increasing concern to local authorities: choice of software publishers, data hosting in Europe or in France, control of data by the local authority, etc.
Two years after its creation, the Data Publica Observatory, in partnership with the Ipsos Institute, has just published a survey a survey The survey was conducted among more than 300 elected officials, digital managers (IS, GIS, data) and DPOs (data protection officers) representing 277 local authorities, ranging from large to small municipalities, regions, departments, metropolitan areas, EPCIs and management centers.
With its partners (Banque des Territoires, ANCT, Groupe La Poste, La Gazette), the Data Publica Observatory wanted to understand and measure the way in which local authorities apprehend the multiple issues related to data management:
- Setting priorities and strategies;
- Consideration of legal or ethical issues;
- Technological choices, including cybersecurity and the use of AI;
- Governance, management organization and data management;
- Transparency and democracy;
- Digital sobriety.
Référence :
Local authorities and the European regulation, an important size effect
72% of local authorities are at least partially in compliance with the European regulation.
26% of local authorities believe they are compliant with the RGPD(General Data Protection Regulation), and 46% are in the process of being so.
The size effect is important:
- 89% of metropolitan areas, 100% of regions and 100% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants consider themselves already in compliance or in the process of being in compliance.
- 19% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants believe that they have not yet begun the process of compliance. Only 61% consider themselves to be in compliance or in the process of being in compliance.
- Only 26% of departments consider themselves compliant with the RGPD (and 52% in the process of being so).
86% of the local authorities that responded to the survey stated that they had appointed a DPO, of which 53% were internal, 13% were shared with other local authorities and 20% used a service provider.
100% of metropolitan areas, regions and municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants have appointed a DPO, as well as 96% of departments. These figures are consistent with the data published by the CNIL.
On the other hand, 30% of the municipalities that responded to the survey with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants stated that they had not designated a DPO. " This figure is probably lower than the reality in the whole stratum, since 66% of municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants do not have a DPO.
Beyond the appointment of a DPO, the implementation of the RGPD is a process that requires an adaptation of the rules of data management within the community:
- 59% of local authorities say they have modified this process. This percentage reaches 83% for metropolitan areas and 80% for regions.
- 34% of municipalities (and 43% of municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants) report that they have not changed their personal data management methods.
50% of the communities surveyed have implemented legal clauses on data management
In 96% of the cases, these clauses concern primarily the implementation of the RGPD.
These clauses also concern the public control of data (58%), the publication of data in open data (44%) or the respect of standards imposed by the community (34%).
"The existence of clauses on data formats and standards, an indicator of high data maturity, concerns a large majority of regions (44%) and especially large EPCIs (46%) and metropolitan areas (56%). The subject and its legal implications are most often identified by territories involved in "intelligent territory" projects and directly confronted with interoperability issues.
New uses of data oriented primarily towards administrative management
"The use of data offers communities the opportunity to improve the efficiency of certain public policies. These use cases are numerous (intelligent lighting, connected waste collection, traffic regulation...). It also offers the possibility to improve knowledge of the territory, to evaluate public policies or to create new services for users.
36% of local authorities declare that they have undertaken one or more experiments with data in the last two years
The size factor is a determining factor. 90% of regions, 89% of metropolitan areas, 57% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and 56% of departments have carried out experiments, tests, POCs or prototypes in the last two years.
- Administrative management (dematerialization of management processes) is at the top of the list of new uses of data: mentioned by 65% of local authorities, this use concerns all levels of local authorities, including the smallest.
- 60% of communities expect data-driven innovations for mobility.
- Then come land use planning (59%), environmental management (58%), heritage management (49%), citizenship (48%), waste management (44%)
- "As for the subject of security, for which the use of data is sometimes controversial and decried, it only gets the attention of 37% of communities."
The priority for communities wanting to increase their use of data is not immediate return on investment
- Only 8% of communities expect an immediate return on investment (ROI) as a priority and this is true regardless of the size of the community.
- 49% of local authorities expect greater use of data to have an impact on their relationship with users. This "return on use" is the top priority for departments (59%) and municipalities (57%).
- 44% of local authorities rank the impact on the effectiveness of public policies (ROP) as their top priority. This is overwhelmingly the case for regions (70%) and EPCIs (61% for metropolitan areas and 58% for EPCIs outside metropolitan areas).
Data governance, the first step towards a data strategy
"The increasingly massive use of data often implies setting up data governance, i.e. a set of rules and principles concerning the collection, storage and processing of data. For example, some local authorities impose local hosting of data, define the format of certain data, propose agreements with rules of access and confidentiality...".
The introduction of data governance rules is a reality in 25% of local authorities, and essentially in the largest (and most experienced) 60% of regions, 57% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, 44% of metropolitan areas and 41% of departments.
These figures show, " say the Observatory's designers, " that there is still an important step to be taken, including by large local authorities, to move from the initial trials to the implementation of real territorial data strategies. This step is the construction of a data governance ".
Only 10% of communities have involved citizens in defining data governance rules
Today, these rare citizen participation initiatives are mainly the result of pioneering local authorities, in this case almost exclusively metropolises: 38% of metropolises declare that they involve citizens/civil society in defining work on data governance.
Among them are Nantes(citizen panel for the elaboration of the metropolitan data charter), Brest (organization of a consensus conference on data), Dijon (metropolitan data committee), Rennes (citizen involvement in the RUDI project), and Lyon, Lille, and La Rochelle (self-data approaches).
Only 6% of local authorities have set up a data ethics charter
34% of communities, however, are considering adopting one, which they will develop themselves or adapt from an existing model.
Among the latter, the metropolises come out on top (67% express the wish to adopt such a charter) followed by the regions (66%).
A level of acculturation of local authorities to data issues that is still considered very insufficient
65% of respondents believe that data issues are not identified or insufficiently understood in the community.
Only 7% consider that the level of acculturation to data issues is good.
Despite the experience they have acquired and the maturity they have accumulated over the years, local authorities, including large ones, consider the level of data culture to be insufficient (or the subject ignored). This is the case in 40% of regions, 45% of metropolitan areas and 60% of other EPCIs. The figure rises to 76% overall in the municipalities.
"These figures tend to show that the issue of "data culture" remains very important, even in the large organizations with the most experience. This can probably be explained by the fact that data projects are still mostly managed by small teams or even isolated experts, without the data culture spreading sufficiently around them.
Data processing and analysis tools in place or being deployed in 49% of communities
This is overwhelmingly the case in metropolitan areas (94%), regions (90%), cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (86%) and departments (81%). Only municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants are far behind, with 10% using these tools.
The subjects of data standardization and interoperability are taken into account by less than 40% of the local authorities surveyed, including mainly metropolitan areas (83% and 89% respectively) and regions (70% and 90% respectively). This can be explained by a higher level of maturity in terms of data, the nature of skills and operating methods, and an increased need to propose systems that can interact with infra- or extra-territorial tools.
The implementation of sensors and IoT (Internet of Things) networks concerns 25% of the local authorities surveyed. This project is strongly emphasized by metropolitan areas: 85% of them are deploying them, mainly in their "intelligent territory" initiatives.
The installation of a data lake is a little-identified solution. It concerns 13% of local authorities, mainly municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (58%).
Digital sovereignty is on the agenda of local authorities
"The issue of digital sovereignty is recurrently put forward in national and European debates. It is also present at the local level concerning the choice of tools or hosting. The question of public control of data remains, however, a poorly identified subject."
Only 23% of local authorities have defined guidelines on the subject. The largest local authorities stand out: 60% of regions and 56% of metropolises claim to have defined a data sovereignty policy.
49% of local authorities prefer, when possible, French or European software
"This trend is comparable regardless of the administrative level involved, which tends to show that concerns about digital sovereignty are present at all levels.
Only 7% of local authorities systematically choose open source. This choice is made by 57% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and 50% of regional and metropolitan authorities.
62% of communities manage their data on internal servers
In contrast to the prevailing discourse on the use of the cloud, a very large majority (62%) of local authorities prefer to host their data on internal servers. This is the case for 85% of departments, 58% of municipalities, 67% of metropolitan areas and 56% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants.
Hosting in a secure "cloud"(SecNum certified by the State) is an option that has been identified but rarely favored, except by 14% of municipalities and 7% of metropolitan areas.
Only the regions stand out: 40% use an internal server and 30% use local public data centers.
Remote data hosting through the use of SaaS software is the 2nd most used hosting method (13%).
89% of local authorities believe they are exposed to cyber risks
"Like all organizations, local authorities are concerned by the challenges of information systems security. For the past 2 or 3 years, those that have been the target of specific attacks, which can completely block their services, report financial losses, loss of time and loss of confidence from their constituents.
89% of local authorities consider themselves exposed to cyber risks and 57% consider that this exposure is continuous or frequent. Only small municipalities put this risk into perspective: 26% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants believe they are not exposed. Conversely, 100% of regions, departments, metropolitan areas and municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants have become aware of the danger.
These numbers are growing very rapidly. A study conducted for the FNCCR in April 2021 showed that 56% of local authorities with more than 100,000 inhabitants considered themselves to be frequently targeted.
24% of local authorities consider that the level of risk awareness is good. This figure rises to 67% in metropolitan areas and 50% in the regions. The subject is "not identified" in 13% of local authorities.
Clearly, the size of the municipality has an influence on the consideration of risk. Indeed, the subject is not dealt with or is dealt with insufficiently in 62% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, in 35% of those with 3,500 to 10,000 inhabitants, in 33% of those with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, but also in 26% of the departments, 20% of the regions and 6% of the metropolitan areas.
There are many obstacles to taking into account and disseminating cybersecurity tools: lack of time (47%), lack of skills (46%), lack of budget (44%), and recruitment difficulties (17%).
Local authorities that are committed to a cybersecurity approach are doing so methodically and are mobilizing the arsenal of best practices. The percentages of implementation are proportional to the size of the local authorities: 100% of metropolitan areas, 80% of regions and 71% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants have appointed an information systems security manager (ISSM), compared with 13% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants and 29% of those with 3,500 to 10,000 inhabitants.
Responsible digital strategies under development
From 2025 onwards, local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants must adopt a responsible digital strategy.
For 33% of local authorities, a responsible digital strategy is being developed or has already been adopted, with regions (80%) and metropolitan areas (72%) being very important. The survey was administered before the publication of the July 29, 2022 decree specifying future obligations for the development of a responsible digital strategy for municipalities and EPCIs with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
Linked articles
-
Innovation
-
Innovation
-
Innovation
-
Data
From Lutèce to CitéLibre: the city of Paris offers a suite of free software for local authorities

[Feature] Local authorities facing cybersecurity issues: what levers for action?

[File] "Intelligent" territories: what objectives, what values, what strategic framework?

More than 28,000 data protection officers (DPOs): better integrated, motivated but insufficiently trained

Governance, uses, sovereignty, RGPD, cyber risks: how do local authorities manage their data?
In recent years, "intelligent territories" projects have been multiplying. National calls for projects are encouraging local authorities to organize the collection and massive use of data for public policy purposes, including through the use of artificial intelligence. At a time when cyber risks are greater than ever, the issue of digital sovereignty is of increasing concern to local authorities: choice of software publishers, data hosting in Europe or in France, control of data by the local authority, etc.
Two years after its creation, the Data Publica Observatory, in partnership with the Ipsos Institute, has just published a survey a survey The survey was conducted among more than 300 elected officials, digital managers (IS, GIS, data) and DPOs (data protection officers) representing 277 local authorities, ranging from large to small municipalities, regions, departments, metropolitan areas, EPCIs and management centers.
With its partners (Banque des Territoires, ANCT, Groupe La Poste, La Gazette), the Data Publica Observatory wanted to understand and measure the way in which local authorities apprehend the multiple issues related to data management:
- Setting priorities and strategies;
- Consideration of legal or ethical issues;
- Technological choices, including cybersecurity and the use of AI;
- Governance, management organization and data management;
- Transparency and democracy;
- Digital sobriety.
Référence :
Local authorities and the European regulation, an important size effect
72% of local authorities are at least partially in compliance with the European regulation.
26% of local authorities believe they are compliant with the RGPD(General Data Protection Regulation), and 46% are in the process of being so.
The size effect is important:
- 89% of metropolitan areas, 100% of regions and 100% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants consider themselves already in compliance or in the process of being in compliance.
- 19% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants believe that they have not yet begun the process of compliance. Only 61% consider themselves to be in compliance or in the process of being in compliance.
- Only 26% of departments consider themselves compliant with the RGPD (and 52% in the process of being so).
86% of the local authorities that responded to the survey stated that they had appointed a DPO, of which 53% were internal, 13% were shared with other local authorities and 20% used a service provider.
100% of metropolitan areas, regions and municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants have appointed a DPO, as well as 96% of departments. These figures are consistent with the data published by the CNIL.
On the other hand, 30% of the municipalities that responded to the survey with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants stated that they had not designated a DPO. " This figure is probably lower than the reality in the whole stratum, since 66% of municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants do not have a DPO.
Beyond the appointment of a DPO, the implementation of the RGPD is a process that requires an adaptation of the rules of data management within the community:
- 59% of local authorities say they have modified this process. This percentage reaches 83% for metropolitan areas and 80% for regions.
- 34% of municipalities (and 43% of municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants) report that they have not changed their personal data management methods.
50% of the communities surveyed have implemented legal clauses on data management
In 96% of the cases, these clauses concern primarily the implementation of the RGPD.
These clauses also concern the public control of data (58%), the publication of data in open data (44%) or the respect of standards imposed by the community (34%).
"The existence of clauses on data formats and standards, an indicator of high data maturity, concerns a large majority of regions (44%) and especially large EPCIs (46%) and metropolitan areas (56%). The subject and its legal implications are most often identified by territories involved in "intelligent territory" projects and directly confronted with interoperability issues.
New uses of data oriented primarily towards administrative management
"The use of data offers communities the opportunity to improve the efficiency of certain public policies. These use cases are numerous (intelligent lighting, connected waste collection, traffic regulation...). It also offers the possibility to improve knowledge of the territory, to evaluate public policies or to create new services for users.
36% of local authorities declare that they have undertaken one or more experiments with data in the last two years
The size factor is a determining factor. 90% of regions, 89% of metropolitan areas, 57% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and 56% of departments have carried out experiments, tests, POCs or prototypes in the last two years.
- Administrative management (dematerialization of management processes) is at the top of the list of new uses of data: mentioned by 65% of local authorities, this use concerns all levels of local authorities, including the smallest.
- 60% of communities expect data-driven innovations for mobility.
- Then come land use planning (59%), environmental management (58%), heritage management (49%), citizenship (48%), waste management (44%)
- "As for the subject of security, for which the use of data is sometimes controversial and decried, it only gets the attention of 37% of communities."
The priority for communities wanting to increase their use of data is not immediate return on investment
- Only 8% of communities expect an immediate return on investment (ROI) as a priority and this is true regardless of the size of the community.
- 49% of local authorities expect greater use of data to have an impact on their relationship with users. This "return on use" is the top priority for departments (59%) and municipalities (57%).
- 44% of local authorities rank the impact on the effectiveness of public policies (ROP) as their top priority. This is overwhelmingly the case for regions (70%) and EPCIs (61% for metropolitan areas and 58% for EPCIs outside metropolitan areas).
Data governance, the first step towards a data strategy
"The increasingly massive use of data often implies setting up data governance, i.e. a set of rules and principles concerning the collection, storage and processing of data. For example, some local authorities impose local hosting of data, define the format of certain data, propose agreements with rules of access and confidentiality...".
The introduction of data governance rules is a reality in 25% of local authorities, and essentially in the largest (and most experienced) 60% of regions, 57% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, 44% of metropolitan areas and 41% of departments.
These figures show, " say the Observatory's designers, " that there is still an important step to be taken, including by large local authorities, to move from the initial trials to the implementation of real territorial data strategies. This step is the construction of a data governance ".
Only 10% of communities have involved citizens in defining data governance rules
Today, these rare citizen participation initiatives are mainly the result of pioneering local authorities, in this case almost exclusively metropolises: 38% of metropolises declare that they involve citizens/civil society in defining work on data governance.
Among them are Nantes(citizen panel for the elaboration of the metropolitan data charter), Brest (organization of a consensus conference on data), Dijon (metropolitan data committee), Rennes (citizen involvement in the RUDI project), and Lyon, Lille, and La Rochelle (self-data approaches).
Only 6% of local authorities have set up a data ethics charter
34% of communities, however, are considering adopting one, which they will develop themselves or adapt from an existing model.
Among the latter, the metropolises come out on top (67% express the wish to adopt such a charter) followed by the regions (66%).
A level of acculturation of local authorities to data issues that is still considered very insufficient
65% of respondents believe that data issues are not identified or insufficiently understood in the community.
Only 7% consider that the level of acculturation to data issues is good.
Despite the experience they have acquired and the maturity they have accumulated over the years, local authorities, including large ones, consider the level of data culture to be insufficient (or the subject ignored). This is the case in 40% of regions, 45% of metropolitan areas and 60% of other EPCIs. The figure rises to 76% overall in the municipalities.
"These figures tend to show that the issue of "data culture" remains very important, even in the large organizations with the most experience. This can probably be explained by the fact that data projects are still mostly managed by small teams or even isolated experts, without the data culture spreading sufficiently around them.
Data processing and analysis tools in place or being deployed in 49% of communities
This is overwhelmingly the case in metropolitan areas (94%), regions (90%), cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (86%) and departments (81%). Only municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants are far behind, with 10% using these tools.
The subjects of data standardization and interoperability are taken into account by less than 40% of the local authorities surveyed, including mainly metropolitan areas (83% and 89% respectively) and regions (70% and 90% respectively). This can be explained by a higher level of maturity in terms of data, the nature of skills and operating methods, and an increased need to propose systems that can interact with infra- or extra-territorial tools.
The implementation of sensors and IoT (Internet of Things) networks concerns 25% of the local authorities surveyed. This project is strongly emphasized by metropolitan areas: 85% of them are deploying them, mainly in their "intelligent territory" initiatives.
The installation of a data lake is a little-identified solution. It concerns 13% of local authorities, mainly municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (58%).
Digital sovereignty is on the agenda of local authorities
"The issue of digital sovereignty is recurrently put forward in national and European debates. It is also present at the local level concerning the choice of tools or hosting. The question of public control of data remains, however, a poorly identified subject."
Only 23% of local authorities have defined guidelines on the subject. The largest local authorities stand out: 60% of regions and 56% of metropolises claim to have defined a data sovereignty policy.
49% of local authorities prefer, when possible, French or European software
"This trend is comparable regardless of the administrative level involved, which tends to show that concerns about digital sovereignty are present at all levels.
Only 7% of local authorities systematically choose open source. This choice is made by 57% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and 50% of regional and metropolitan authorities.
62% of communities manage their data on internal servers
In contrast to the prevailing discourse on the use of the cloud, a very large majority (62%) of local authorities prefer to host their data on internal servers. This is the case for 85% of departments, 58% of municipalities, 67% of metropolitan areas and 56% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants.
Hosting in a secure "cloud"(SecNum certified by the State) is an option that has been identified but rarely favored, except by 14% of municipalities and 7% of metropolitan areas.
Only the regions stand out: 40% use an internal server and 30% use local public data centers.
Remote data hosting through the use of SaaS software is the 2nd most used hosting method (13%).
89% of local authorities believe they are exposed to cyber risks
"Like all organizations, local authorities are concerned by the challenges of information systems security. For the past 2 or 3 years, those that have been the target of specific attacks, which can completely block their services, report financial losses, loss of time and loss of confidence from their constituents.
89% of local authorities consider themselves exposed to cyber risks and 57% consider that this exposure is continuous or frequent. Only small municipalities put this risk into perspective: 26% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants believe they are not exposed. Conversely, 100% of regions, departments, metropolitan areas and municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants have become aware of the danger.
These numbers are growing very rapidly. A study conducted for the FNCCR in April 2021 showed that 56% of local authorities with more than 100,000 inhabitants considered themselves to be frequently targeted.
24% of local authorities consider that the level of risk awareness is good. This figure rises to 67% in metropolitan areas and 50% in the regions. The subject is "not identified" in 13% of local authorities.
Clearly, the size of the municipality has an influence on the consideration of risk. Indeed, the subject is not dealt with or is dealt with insufficiently in 62% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, in 35% of those with 3,500 to 10,000 inhabitants, in 33% of those with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, but also in 26% of the departments, 20% of the regions and 6% of the metropolitan areas.
There are many obstacles to taking into account and disseminating cybersecurity tools: lack of time (47%), lack of skills (46%), lack of budget (44%), and recruitment difficulties (17%).
Local authorities that are committed to a cybersecurity approach are doing so methodically and are mobilizing the arsenal of best practices. The percentages of implementation are proportional to the size of the local authorities: 100% of metropolitan areas, 80% of regions and 71% of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants have appointed an information systems security manager (ISSM), compared with 13% of municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants and 29% of those with 3,500 to 10,000 inhabitants.
Responsible digital strategies under development
From 2025 onwards, local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants must adopt a responsible digital strategy.
For 33% of local authorities, a responsible digital strategy is being developed or has already been adopted, with regions (80%) and metropolitan areas (72%) being very important. The survey was administered before the publication of the July 29, 2022 decree specifying future obligations for the development of a responsible digital strategy for municipalities and EPCIs with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
Labo Société Numérique


