Fourth Annual Open Data Contest Seeks Entries

Data made available through the province’s open data portal can be used to gain insights or create economic opportunities.

That is why the province is partnering with Dalhousie University again this year to invite students and entrepreneurs to participate in an open data contest.

The contest begins on March 7, International Open Data Day, and ends on March 8, with participants pitching their solutions to a panel of judges for cash prizes.

“Challenging our youth to innovate with open data is exciting and I can’t wait to see what new and creative ways they will come up with this year to use the data,” said Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services Minister Patricia Arab. “Past contest entries have sought to address complex social issues, improve community connections, or in some way enhance the lives of Nova Scotians.”

This year, participants are being challenged to develop innovative applications, visualizations, or predictive models with a focus on health care or the economy.

The contest is open to individuals and teams.

Quotes:

“Watching this contest expand and grow over the past four years both in terms of participants and the interesting apps, visualizations and predictive models created has been very rewarding.”

– Sandra Toze, director of the School of Information Management, Dalhousie University

Quick Facts:

• governments across the world celebrate International Open Data Day with local events that promote awareness and use of open data
• since the open data portal was launched in 2016 more than 580 datasets have been released
• there have been more than 85,000 downloads and over a million page views on the portal

Additional Resources:

Register for the contest: https://data.novascotia.ca