GODAN Open Data Challenge

Open data can be a really powerful tool to overcome the challenges that currently exist in the areas of agriculture and nutrition. GODAN has organized an Open Data Challenge, an international initiative that seeks innovative ways to unleash the potential of open data in both sectors. Open Data Challenge is divided into two categories, both related to the availability and re-use of open data to improve food security in the world.

Category A: Policy Challenge

Participants in this challenge -researchers, entrepreneurs, students, government officials, among others- are invited to send their proposals to design a policy or program that incentivizes governments and non-governmental agencies to collect, re-use and improve open data to impact positively in one of these two specific themes:

1. Agriculture: The lack of crowdsourced data from rural areas, especially as it relates to helping farmers make better decisions about inputs, pricing, and other factors related to agricultural production.
2. Nutrition: The cost and difficulty of capturing and utilizing consumer open data about daily nutritional intake, with the goal of understanding nutritional risks, opportunities, and constraints.

Participants of this challenge must choose one of these issues and design a practical solution to respond to the chosen theme. Before 1^st August, a brief summary will be sent through the GODAN website and a jury will choose the finalists assessing the impact, innovation and feasibility of each proposal.

On 17^th August the names of the finalists will be announced who, in this occasion, have to develop a white paper (maximum 7,000 words) that includes an analysis of the current context, the detailed articulation of the solution and the feasibility of the solution in practice, accompanied by graphics, illustrations and infographics of the information provided.

Category B: Open Data-Maker’s Challenge

The second challenge is aimed at young entrepreneurs and students who are interested in creating a prototype product or service that responds to one of the following five areas:

1. Improve Growing Plant Innovations: Using open data to improve how and where we grow our food.
2. Empower the Crowd: Using open data to improve how we leverage the crowd’s actions and knowledge to create a better food system.
3. Improve Nutrition and Health: Using open data to improve how we track, make available, and improve nutrition in our daily diets.
4. Deliver Climate Smart Agriculture: Using open data to improve agriculture’s resilience in the face of a changing climate.
5. Meet the Protein Frontier: Using open data to improve how we address the growing demand for protein, and the opportunity for more sustainable and alternative proteins.

Individuals or team leaders, between 17-26 years of age, who are current university students or recent graduates can submit their proposals. As in the previous challenge, a jury will select the proposals that meet the challenge requirements based on their impact, innovation, implementation and uniqueness.

The finalists of both challenges will assist at the GODAN Summit that takes place in september and where an open data hackathon will be organized for the finalists of Challenge B, choosing the winning proposal. In this last edition, during two days, the GODAN Summit will bring together world leaders, researchers and farmers in New York to discuss and share ideas that maximize open data potential in agriculture and nutrition.