Nodes that can help to unleash the power of data in our cities

With the goal of promoting the use of open data to create economic, social and environmental value, the Open Data Institute has received requests from around the world for setting up country-wide or regional versions of the organisation.

The brainchild of investor of the worldwide web, Prof Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Prof Sir Nigel Shadbolt, the ODI has secured £10m over five years via UK innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, and $750,000 from Omidyar Network, an investment firm established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam.

Mr Omidyar is backing a new media venture by journalist Glenn Greenwald, who made headlines around the world with his reporting on US electronic surveillance programmes.

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Now, the ODI has come to Leeds in the form of a ‘node’ which brings together companies, universities and non-governmental organisations that support open data projects and communities.

Open data is information that is available for anyone to use, for any purpose, at no cost.

The idea behind the ODI, whose official opening happened a year ago, is to use this data to gain greater insight into a particular area, for example healthcare or education.

Actuated Futures in Leeds is partnering with the ODI to create and build the city’s ‘node’ to encourage an open data culture in Leeds and Yorkshire.

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Paul Connell, a partner at the company, which advises, designs and builds digitally-connected places, said: “This is an important step in the process of unleashing the power of data in our cities for the benefit of all our citizens, with new ways of working and innovation.”

Open data has to have a licence that says it is open data. Without a licence, the data cannot be reused.

One example of an open data project, recorded as a case study by the ODI, is OpenCorporates, which set out to bring greater clarity to corporate data.

It is the largest open database of companies in the world. OpenCorporates was created by former journalist Chris Taggart and Rob McKinnon – both of whom have been running open data projects for a number of years.

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Mr Taggart explained: “We take messy data from government websites, company registers, official filings and data released under the Freedom of Information Act, clean it up and using clever code make it available to people.”

Mr Connell said: “Open data is data we have paid for as taxpayers, it’s data that people decide to make open, people make data available about places, about transport, education, healthcare, so there’s civic information, there’s government data, there’s financial data, there’s the data that’s held around all of us on what we spend money on...

“I think where the interesting bit is where that open data is blended with social media data and also with your own personal data.

“So people then can know more and make decisions.”

The ODI is a private limited company established as a not-for-profit organisation.

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As well as the ODI Leeds, the international open data network is made up of ‘nodes’ in places such as Dubai, Chicago, North Carolina, Paris, Manchester, Moscow and Buenos Aires.

“For Leeds, it allows us to access all the great stuff going on at the ODI, we will be part of that network, we will be sharing the collective intelligence of all the other nodes across the world, and it allows, particularly public sector bodies, a place where they can trial and experiment and make things open and accessible in a safe environment,” said Mr Connell.

So what is the next step for the ODI Leeds?

“We need to put it in the context of Leeds and Yorkshire basically,” said Mr Connell.

“So, what are the major questions, what are the challenges we have, what are things we want to do with data.

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“Is it around health, is it around health and social care, is it around local government, how do we deliver the services and obligations we have at lower cost, how do we engage people more, how can people do what they need to do more efficiency or more innovatively and how can we create jobs and growth on the back of it?”

The ODI Leeds will soon announce a pop-up location in the city and will have links to key locations in other regions.

It also plans to create a data platform so information is available for people to use.

The ODI Leeds will focus on key areas initially such as healthcare, energy and the environment, and making public sector data more available and more useful.

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A spokeswoman from Leeds and Partners, an organisation which aims to raise the profile of Leeds and attract investment to the city, said: “Leeds has an ambition to become the UK’s ‘first city for health and Innovation’ and is in the process of creating an Innovation Health Hub that will have a strong focus on health informatics, medical technologies and engaging communities.”

Other partners in this project include organisations from the private, public and voluntary sectors such as the universities and Leeds City Council.

The spokeswoman added: “As part of the Innovation Health Hub, Leeds is seeking to accelerate an open data platform that builds on the foundations created by the Open Data Institute.

“By establishing the ODI Leeds node we plan to utilise the national ODI knowledge, learning and expertise in a local setting to help transform the way that the city uses its data; helping to drive investment and better outcomes for people to bring about economic and social benefits in Leeds.”

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She added that it is now widely recognised that transparency and open data has an increasingly important role now and in the future in improving efficiencies and driving long-term economic growth.

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