Kenya has won the bid to host the 6th edition of the International Open Data Conference (IODC) in 2020. This will be the first time the conference is held in Africa.
The Announcement was made at the closing ceremony of the 5th IODC 2018 held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from September 27 – 28, 2018 under the theme “The Future is Open.” This year’s IODC was organized 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.
“This will be an excellent opportunity to share lessons learnt on hosting such an auspicious gathering with Kenya, but most importantly, a practical opportunity to strengthen the South-South Collaboration. We look forward to advising and working with the Government of Kenya in the successful hosting of IODC in 2020.” Mr. Rudi Borrmann, Undersecretary for Public Innovation and Open Government, Argentina’s Ministry for Modernization said.
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 3000 participants to Nairobi from over 100 countries. Additionally, over 50 tech 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 honored 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 signaling 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.”
