The World Bank Promotes Development Through Opening Up Government Data

The global open data movement is gaining momentum, as more and more countries look into potential benefits of releasing government data to the public, encouraging the re-use of data and creation of new applications based on this data. Moreover, an increasing number of entrepreneurs rely on public data in their everyday business activities.

Opening up data is “the victory for those of us who believe that the best way to get value from data is to give it away”, - said Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes while announcing the EU’s  Open Data package on December 12. The European Commission estimates that this package will generate additional €38billion of economic activity annually.

How to open up data, what to start with, how to stimulate job creation and economic activity using public data and how to cope with dataphobia - were some the key questions addressed at the international workshop “Opening Up Development: How Can Countries Start and Run Open Data Ecosystems?” hosted by the World Bank last week.  The World Bank itself launched the Open Data initiative in April 2010, providing free and easy access to development-related statistics and indicators...