Open Data Brings Private and Public Partners Together

I met Todd Park last fall at a Presidential Innovation Fellows' event.  He spoke about their Open Data efforts to create jobs and improve the lives of Americans.  Open Data takes public data and voluntarily-contributed private data and makes it freely available in machine readable format so that innovators can create new products and services.  We were intrigued by their Open Data work and saw tremendous potential in leveraging it in North Carolina.  The result of many partners' hard work is next week's Datajam and September's DatapPalooza. 

DataPalooza is an open-data competition sponsored by the White House that connects local experts, innovators, and entrepreneurs to relevant, clean data drawn from federal, state, local and private resources.  This open data is used to develop applications and solutions that catalyze positive community and economic impact. Previous events have taken place in Washington, DC, using open data to spark innovation in the fields of health, education, and energy.

The inaugural NC DataPalooza will be a two-part event, beginning with the NC DataJam competition at HUB Raleigh on April 22nd and culminating with a celebration in September.

NC DataJam will feature a reception and prestigious speakers such as Todd Park, CTO for the United States government, but the day’s focus will be the open-data competition. Breakout groups will work alongside expert facilitators to develop innovative applications using education, health, and green data. On August 1st, the leading ideas will be selected for a 30-day accelerator, granting the team access to resources like business coaching and technology.

Part two of the event, the NC DataPalooza celebration, will take place during Triangle Entrepreneurship Week on September 12th. The event will feature keynote speakers, presentations by the competitors, and an announcement of the winning applications.

By hosting the first-ever regional DataPalooza, the Triangle will be recognized as a center for open data, collaboration, and entrepreneurial innovation, furthering our goal to make this region a top five entrepreneurial community in the country.

- Zach Ambrose