Kenya wins bid to host 6th International Open Data Conference

By Rawlexx79

The Government of Kenya has won the bid to host the sixth International Open Data Conference in Nairobi, which will be held in Africa for the first time – in 2020.

According to organisers, the decision to host the conference in Nairobi is based on the consistency and high-level leadership of Deputy President William Ruto, on open government and the availability of data for development over the last three years.

The event is a bi-annual gathering of champions of open data from government, civil society, academia and innovators amongst others.

They get together 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.

“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,” Legal Advisor and Head of Policy, Office of the Deputy President Korir Sing’Oei said.

“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,” he added.

The 2020 conference is expected to bring over 3,000 participants from over 100 countries.

Additionally, over 50 tech international tech companies are expected to participate, exhibit and hopefully – invest in Africa’s ever growing innovation spaces.

Source: African Strategic-Ventures (ASV) & Capitalfm.