Kenya to host International Open Data Conference in 2020

Source: @opendatacon ©

The announcement was made at the closing ceremony of the 5th IODC 2018 held recently in Buenos Aires, Argentina, under the theme “The Future is Open.” This year’s IODC was organised by the Government of Argentina, the World Bank, IDRC and OD4D with the support of Google, amongst others.

The International Open Data Conference (IODC) is a bi-annual premier gathering of champions of Open Data from Government, Civil Society, Academia, innovators among others; to share, learn and collaborate on policies, technologies, tactics, tools and platforms for making data more open, accessible, available and interoperable in support of development priorities.

The IODC exists to accelerate collaboration and increase the impact of open data activities globally, across different workstreams such as; Agriculture, health, education, gender and fiscal transparency. For the last 10 years, the Government of Spain, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the World Bank, and the Open Data for Development Network (OD4D) have been the curators of the Conference.

The Government of Kenya won the bid based on the consistency and high-level leadership of deputy president, William Ruto, on Open Government and data for development over the last three years.

“Bridging Data Communities”

The theme of the International Open Data Conference in 2020 will be “Bridging Data Communities” a vision that received a resounding endorsement by participants, noting the significance of the year 2020, that will mark, five years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement (PARIS21), as well as the 5th anniversary of the Africa Agenda 2063 and 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).

The 2020 conference is expected to bring over 3,000 participants to Nairobi from over 100 countries. Additionally, over 50 international tech companies are expected to participate, exhibit and hopefully invest in Africa’s burgeoning innovation spaces.

Receiving the baton to host #IODC20, on behalf of Kenya, Dr. Korir Sing’Oei, Legal Advisor and Head of Policy, Office of the Deputy President, said that, “We are indeed humbled and honoured to be entrusted with the next International Open Data Conference, which will be a tremendous opportunity for the African Continent to showcase impact on how it has harnessed the power of data, technology and innovation, to respond to the age-old challenges of our populations. With this opportunity to host the next IODC in 2020, we are signalling Africa’s readiness to play a leading role in bridging the different data communities to deliver the benefits of data to our economies and leave no one behind.”