Call for Proposals - International Open Data Conference 2016

After the third edition of the International Open Data Conference, held in Ottawa, Madrid will be the next host city of IODC in 2016. From 6^th to 7^th October, international open data community will gather in the Spanish capital. Titled “Global goals, local impact” the fourth IODC will showcase new projects, facilitate the dialogue about challenges shared by international sector and find solutions for areas such as education, transport, consumer products, electricity, extractive industries, health and personal finances.

This week the Call for proposals has been opened, inviting all members of the sector to contribute in the programme of the 4^th International Open Data Conference. The proposals will be framed in three areas of work -Call for impact, Call for sharing, Call for action. Submissions must be received no later than April 3^rd when the evaluation process will start.

Proposals will be reviewed by a Programme Committee formed by more than twenty entities representing relevant open data institutions worldwide. The jury will be formed by entities belonging to public administrations (Government of Spain, Government of Mexico, UNDP Istanbul, TBS Canada, European Commission and Data.gov); civic organizations (OKFN Germany, Omydiar o Africa Media Initiative); leading organizations in open data and open government (The Gov Lab, Open Data Services Cooperative, Condatos, ILDA, Open Data Institute, Caribbean Open Institute, Sunlight Foundation and OGP); independent experts such as David Eaves; entities dedicated to investigation and research in different areas (IRDC Canada, CIS Centre for Internet & Society de India, NRGI); global organizations such as World Wide Web Foundation and, even academic institutions such as Universidad Politécnica of Madrid or Arizona University, USA.

On the way to IODC2016 celebration, open data community is also invited to enrich the Conference’s website with posts and experiences published regularly  on the blog. Thus, this digital space is an access point for projects about re-use of public sector information, open data initiatives and reflexions collated during the months prior to the event.

The celebration in Madrid of the 4^th International Open Data Conference is a recognition for the efforts and achievement accomplished by national open data industry. According to the data from the report Open Data Maturity in Europe 2015, Spain is placed among leading nations in UE+28, after reaching a satisfactory level of maturity and setting an example for other countries which are working to improve their open data policies. In this regards, Aporta Initiative plays an important role, not only safeguarding the national open data catalogue, but fostering the re-use and opening up the public sector information.