Topics
Open Data Application Contest
Partly due to precious lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and in an intensive effort to recover from the disaster and reconstruct the devastated regions, there has been a growing trend recently in Japan toward the promotion of open data. In an interim report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) concerning "ICT Policy for Realizing the Networked Knowledge and Information Society" (July 25, 2011), the MIC Information and Communications Council proposed improving the open data environment to distribute information more widely and make it open to all people, industries, and fields. Meanwhile, the IT Strategic Headquarters announced the " Open Government Data Strategy" on July 4 2012.
Overseas, the EU made public the "Open Data Strategy for Europe" around the end of 2011. Under this program, it is planned to open a data portal for the EU, set up fair conditions within the Union, and provide support for developing data-processing technology. Currently, Britain, France, and other countries are launching an initiative to make public data more open and to use them more effectively. In the United States, the Obama administration pledged to aggressively promote open data in its May 2012 memorandum "Building a 21st Century Digital Government."
Data retained at public offices are valuable assets and resources. Nevertheless, they have not been used effectively. As in other countries, Japan should exploit these assets and resources more effectively not only to improve public services but also to enhance transparency, make corporate activities more efficient, and help create innovative services and businesses. A survey report submitted to the European Committee suggests that increasing open data in Japan will create a new market worth 1,200 billion yen and an economic ripple effect of 5,500 billion yen, based on GDP figures.
To promote open data, central and local governments must positively open their data to the public. They should formulate specific initiatives for this purpose. However, even if public offices disclose their data actively, the effects of such disclosure will be limited unless the public and businesses use them effectively to create new value and services. In addition, we need a system that seamlessly connects data held by public offices with those held by the private sector. Such a system should standardize a data format to facilitate the combination of public and private data, while promoting the distribution and use of data held by the private sector that have strong public characteristics.
Under these circumstances, Open Data Promotion Consortium was set up with the aim of helping industry, government, and academia jointly improve the infrastructure for building an open data distribution environment.
For the time being, the Consortium engages in the following activities:
Open Data Application Contest
9 Dec 2013
Tokyo
Organizers
Open Data Symposium
13 Mar 2013, 10:00 - 12:00
MRI (Tokyo)
Organizers
"Japan Open Data Award"
1 Dec 2012
Tokyo
Organizers
Meteorological Data Hackathon (Off-line Event)
5 Nov, 2012 (Site Opened)
Organizers
Meteorological Data Ideathon (Online Event)
27 Jul 2012
Tokyo
Organizers
Establishment Announcement Meeting
Wed, 12 Mar 2014
Commendation ceremony will be held for "2nd Japan Open Data Award" and "Open Data Application Contest"
We had held "Open Data Application Contest" in order to promote the open data. It was co-hosted by M...
Mon, 10 Feb 2014
Recruitment of "Japan Open Data Award" sponsors
"Japan Open Data Award" by our consortium will be held in this fiscal year for the best projects of open data.The sponsors are wanted in this fiscal year.
Wed, 25 Dec 2013
"Trial version of Data Catalogue Site" was released by the Japanese Government.
"Trial version of Data Catalogue Site" was released by the Japanese Government on December 20, 2013.
Thu, 28 Nov 2013
"Open Data Application Contest"
"Open Data Application Contest" will be held in order to promote the open data. It will be co-hosted...
Fri, 19 Apr 2013
Open data of White Paper Information and Communications was released
Open data of White Paper Information and Communications (2010-2012) was released. It is published every year by the Ministry of Internal affairs and communications.