IODC

The international open data community has an appointment in Buenos Aires on September 27-28, 2018, in the new edition of the International Open Data Conference (IODC). Under the title "The future is open", a participatory event has been launched to address open data challenges and opportunities. The ultimate goal is to promote collaboration among professionals to define a strategy to promote the use of open data both globally and locally.

People interested in attending only have to fill out this online form. Registration is free and the process will be open until the day of the event. Also, journalists wishing to cover the conference can contact contact@opendatacon.org.

An inclusive and innovative agenda

The collaborative atmosphere of the event was reflected on the agenda. Through a global call for proposals, citizens and researchers could include their vision of open data, emphasizing their interests and concerns. The result is an agenda aligned with the needs of the attendees, which includes presentations, discussion panels, discussion groups and dynamic workshops.

The event will begin on the 27th at 9:00 a.m. local time with an official welcome, followed by an opening plenary session, where speakers will share an overview of the current status of open data in the world. Then, there will be a series of parallel sessions where different topics will be addressed:

• General sessions, focused for example on how to implement an open data policy, and other more specific sessions focused on the influence of open data in specific fields such as agriculture, journalism, Smart cities or the environment.
• Some sessions will address how open data can help solve some of humanity's current challenges (such as migration and refugee crises, gender issues or climate change).
• Regional sessions will also be held to provide information on the status of open data initiatives in specific territories such as LATAM, Asia, Western Europe or sub-Saharan Africa, among others.

All sessions that will take place in the main plenary room will be livestreamed. Also, there will be simultaneous translation services available, both for English and Spanish, in all rooms.

A week full of activities

In addition to these sessions, a series of pre-events will be held the prior days. These events are complementary to the program and allow more opportunities to engage and learn about different topics. Some example of these events are:

• September 24th. Attendees can visit the Open cities Summit, whit the support of Open Data for Development (OD4D). The objective of this event is to create a road map that includes concrete actions to develop an open city to improve the lives of citizens. Through presentations, panels and working groups, solutions will be sought to overcome previously identified challenges.

• September 25th. The Open Data Research Symposium is held, with the participation of The Governance Lab (The GovLab), ), Open Data for Development (OD4D), Open Data Research Network (ODRN) e International Development Research Center (IDRC). In this event, researchers present 8 -12 papers that provide a critical perspective and allow the development of empirically tested theories on the publication and use of open data. These papers will address issues such as the role of open data for decision-making or its value for developing economies. In addition, during the event, there will be a workshop to share relevant tools or processes for the research community.

• September 26. A day before the IODC start, attendees could enjoy ABRELATAM, an event whose organizers describe as a "no-conference", since it moves away from the traditional format of speaker who introduce a topic to a reactive audience. In this case, there will be multiple simultaneous sessions moderated by a facilitator that will encourage dialogue among small groups of attendees, based on topics gathered from the common agenda (entrepreneurship, security and privacy, algorithms and technology, etc.).

All these events will serve as a prelude to the intense IODC days, full of activities. As in the previous edition, celebrated with great success in the city of Madrid, it is expected that the event will consolidate international relations and encourage concrete actions that will go a step further in the development of open data strategies around the world.

“Crowd-sourcing questions that if answered could radically increase our understanding of open data”

On October 5th, international researchers will gather at the second Open Data Research Symposium (ODRS); a pre-event to the International Open Data Conference to be held in Madrid. As in the previous edition, ODRS 16 will offer attendees the opportunity to reflect critically on the results of their investigations while cohesion is sought within the research community about the potential impacts of open data.

Though the ODRS call for proposals ended last May, the deadline has been extended to all members of the open data movement to help shape the program of the event, focusing on the most relevant aspects in the field. To do this, the organization has created a specific section on the Symposium website where users can submit questions for researchers to resolve their doubts about open data. Moreover, it is also possible to send the questions via Twitter using the hashtag #ODSR16. The deadline is July 1st.

Thanks to user’s questions, it will be possible to identify the topics of interest to the international open data community, draft the ODRS program to ensure sessions are tailored to the needs of the participants, build a collaborative agenda and report efforts and collaborations that take place during the meeting.

More information about the pre-events to the annual open data meeting? Stay tuned to the website of the International Open Data Conference. See you in Madrid!

Last Wednesday the conference Open Data for European Entrepreneurs was held in Pamplona gathering the FIWARE community. The event was organized by FINODEX accelerator that provides support services to European ICT industry building technological solutions re-using open data and making use of the open platform FIREWARE.

The roadshow was divided into different panels focussing on two main areas: FIWARE technology, a simple set of APIs that ease the development of smart applications in multiple vertical sectors, and open data entrepreneurship.

Based on both thematic lines, the fist panel offered to the assistants the opportunity to know real stories of entrepreneurs who, using the potential of open data, have developed innovative solutions such as the start-ups belonging to FINODEX Project. In fact, the three finalists of this program attended the event to share their experience with the public. 

Linkovate, first finalist, has developed a search engine that helps manufacturing and R&D equipment in companies to find technologies and partners. The second prize went to Xpressomics, who has also created a seeker but, in this case, of genetic information aimed at pharmaceutical industry and medical researchers. Lastly, Geezar and its Fruitwatcher was also present with a device that monitors the conditions of fruit in trucks to guarantee it reaches its destinations in perfect conditions.

Later, it was accelerators’ turn, companies that provide financial support and advice to entrepreneurs on their way to success and, after this round table, the expert from FIREWARE Foundation, Juanjo Hierro gave a talk as well as the Executive Officer at CDTI who underlined the role of public sector in technological innovation.

Moreover, lastly the conference was attended by representatives of Iniciativa Aporta -public sector programme to promote the re-use of open data in Spain- who presented the global open data meeting: the International Open Data Conference, held in Madrid by early October.  A new opportunity to know how open data can become the raw material for new products and services as those developed within FINODEX Project.