interoperabel

Interoperabel describes the property of systems, devices, or organizations to exchange information and to use the exchanged information effectively. Interoperability covers not only the ability to transmit data (syntactic interoperability) but also the meaning of the data (semantic interoperability) and the ability to coordinate processes across organizational boundaries (organizational interoperability).

Achieving interoperability typically relies on common interfaces and open standards, such as standardized data formats, protocols, and service definitions. Examples include Internet protocols (TCP/IP), web technologies (HTTP, REST), data formats (JSON, XML), and domain-specific standards such as HL7 FHIR in healthcare or ISO/IEC standards for information management.

Interoperability is critical in sectors like healthcare, government, logistics, and manufacturing, enabling seamless cross-system workflows, data sharing, and better decision making. It also supports cross-border digital services and innovation through reusable components and plug-and-play integration.

Key challenges include maintaining compatibility across versions, aligning governance and privacy requirements, integrating legacy systems, and ensuring security. Achieving semantic interoperability requires common vocabularies, ontologies, or mappings between data models, which can be resource-intensive.

Approaches to improve interoperability include adopting open standards, participating in standardization bodies (for example ISO/IEC, W3C, HL7), implementing conformance testing and certification, and using APIs and middleware that expose stable interfaces. In Dutch governance discourse, "interoperabel" is used to describe systems designed to work together across sectors and borders.