Open Data Day 2020!

Open Data Day 2020
This year, the 10th anniversary of the Open Data Day was celebrated by the international open data community on 7 March 2020.

Open Data Day is an international annual event where data enthusiasts gather to connect and build new solutions to complex social issues by using open data. The event aims to show the benefits of open data (such as an increase in efficiency, transparency, innovation, and economic growth) and to encourage the adoption of open data policies in various government bodies, businesses, and civil societies. Open Data Day takes place globally and includes talks, seminars, hackathons, demonstrations, and trainings on different tracks selected for that year. In addition, there are announcements of open data releases or other milestones in open data. Moreover, all outputs from Open Data Day 2020 are open for everyone to re-use.

As with previous years, a mini-grant was available for organisers of events related to the following four tracks that open data can help solve:

• Environmental data: helping the world become more environmentally sustainable
• Tracking public money flows: enhancing transparency
• Open mapping: developing better communities with the power of maps
• Data for equal development: highlighting pressing issues on local, national or global level

This year’s Open Data Day celebrated open data and provided plenty discussion opportunities on how to continue creating and promoting open data to address complex societal issues around the world. Open Data Day 2020 had over 300 registered events across the world, of which over 50 events took place in Europe. A few of them are discussed below.

European Data Portal Webinar
The European Data Portal celebrated this year’s Open Data Day with the publication of the report “The Economic Impact of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in Europe”. This report was a follow up on the 2015 report “Creating Value through Open Data”. 

On Friday 6 March, a day before Open Data Day 2020, a webinar took place in which the authors of the report – Esther Huyer and Laura van Knippenberg – provided an overview of their findings and discussed these with the audience. Several examples regarding the potential value of open data in Europe were provided as well as the estimations and forecasts of the open data market size and employment for 2019-2025. One of the key lessons learned is that there is a massive potential for open data, but in order to achieve this potential we must explore and improve multiple approaches – including combining open data with other types of data – of data re-use that are ethical, sustainable, and fit-for-purpose. 

The recording of the main part of the webinar, as well as the FAQ section, are available online. If you have any questions about the report or would like to share your thoughts and opinion, reach out to us via mail or Twitter. 

Open Belgium 2020
Another example was Open Belgium 2020, an annual event providing a platform for open data enthusiasts and re-users to talk about their efforts on open data. The main event took place on Friday 6 March in Hasselt, Belgium. It is a community driven conference with talks, discussions, panels, and workshops. The conference started off with a keynote by Adriana Groh on how to start a “public interest tech revolution”. Also, there was a panel discussion with representatives from the government, research, civil society, and business on the developments in open data and open knowledge in Belgium over the past year. 

In celebration of the global Open Data Day, volunteer innovators, scientists, developers, policy specialists, and designers from all over Belgium were also invited on Saturday 7 March to take part in the Civic Lab Summit. The focus was on the development of existing projects through workshops, the exchange of ideas on different topics in the field of Open Knowledge, and even the start of new projects. A few topics related to redefining digital trust among citizens, measuring air quality, voting trends, and skills and training on research data management.

EU Datathon Webinar
On Friday 6 March, the European Open Data Portal organised a webinar for the EU Datathon 2020, where speakers discussed the available open data on their portal to contribute to the event’s four thematic challenges.

• Challenge 1: ‘A European Green Deal’
• Challenge 2: ‘An economy that works for people’
• Challenge 3: ‘A new push for European democracy’
• Challenge 4: ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’

The EU Datathon is an annual open data competition organised by the Publications Office of the European Union and will take place later this year on 13 and 15 October 2020 in Brussels, Belgium during the 18th European Week of Regions and Cities event. The EU Datathon 2020 aims to stimulate the use and re-use of open data and to support competitors in showcasing their data skills and innovative ideas. Participants are invited to develop apps and interactive visualisations that offer new services or public information insights to citizens, public authorities and businesses. 

Interested in competing in the EU Datathon 2020? You need to propose the development of an application that links and uses open datasets related to one of four above mentioned challenges. At least one of these open datasets should be made available by EU institutions, agencies or bodies. Submit your proposal with a short description by 3 May 2020.

Learn more about the EU Datathon 2020 and other open-data events and follow the European Data Portal on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn to stay up to date!