Open government data for start-ups! How to create a project in cooperation with the government.
How to drive through the city or even the country as fast as possible? How to choose the best school for the child's education? Which hospital to refer to? And most importantly – what does it have to do with IT?
The fact is that some countries have already launched IT-projects that can make the life easier and more comfortable for society: they can advise the educational institution, bring information about the budget etc. It didn't appear without the governmental support.
Many talented IT-entrepreneurs sooner or later come to the idea of socially useful startup. For the rapid project development they need some topical data. The experience of neighboring countries have proved the possibility of setting up a series of interesting projects using open government data (Open Government Data, hereinafter - OGD).
Livia Turkana, coordinator of the initiative group of OGD in Moldova, represented some details on how to use the OGD in IT-projects development. During the teleconference organized by NGO SocialBoost with the support of the International "Renaissance" Fund and Bionic University, the expert explained how to make a leap and create a minimum viable version of an IT-service.
"Besides the effect it had on developers and entrepreneurs, opening of the government data also had social and political impact. It increased the transparency of economic processes in the country, stimulated personal responsibility of officials for their actions. In addition, the interest of the business sector in the OGD use stimulated the government to support the innovation at the state level, "- says Livia Turkana.
Currently the OGD has found its practical application in community service projects in the field of public procurement, environment, land cadaster, control of the public expenditure budget of Moldova.
Ukrainian experience of OGD usage was presented by Denis Gursky, founder of the NGO SocialBoost. "The opening of government data is a great opportunity for IT-entrepreneurs. Ukraine already has several successful projects such as Дерибан, Твоємісто, УкрЯма, edumeter, citytransport, zloch.in.ua, поїздка.org and others. We hope that the government will meet the IT-industry's needs and the number of such initiatives will increase, "- said Denis Gursky.
Experts suggest using Hackathons to create successful startups. Hackathon is a special event for programmers, which results in creation of several minimum viable versions of projects. In the case of victory, the jury committee awards the winner with a prize fund for the further completion of the project.
Last edit: 06.02.15