Alex Howard of O’Reilly Radar reports, “After years of steady growth, open data is now entering into public discourse, particularly in the public sector. If President Barack Obama decides to put the White House’s long-awaited new open data mandate before the nation this spring, it will finally enter the mainstream. As more governments, businesses, media organizations and institutions adopt open data initiatives, interest in the evidence behind  release and the outcomes from it is similarly increasing. High hopes abound in many sectors, from development to energy to health to safety to transportation. ‘Today, the digital revolution fueled by open data is starting to do for the modern world of agriculture what the industrial revolution did for agricultural productivity over the past century,’ said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, speaking at the G-8 Open Data for Agriculture Conference.” Read more

In December, a group of Semantic thought leaders from around the globe met with their host and colleague, Eric Franzon, for the latest installment of the Semantic Link, a monthly podcast covering the world of Semantic Technologies. This episode includes a discussion about the newly launched Open Data Institute (ODI) in the UK, and “the Linkers” were joined by a special guest: Nigel Shadbolt, Chairman and Co-Founder of the ODI. You can learn more about the ODI here.
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James Vincent of The Independent recently wrote, “Officially launched on 4 of December the Open Data Institute (ODI) is an independent, non-profit and non-partisan company that aims to become the UK’s premier academy of big data. Considering the current hype surrounding terms such as ‘big data’, there are some that might view this new initiative with suspicion but the ODI seems part of an understated if confident shift in how the UK is taking advantage of a natural resource of the information age: data. The project was first conceived by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton Nigel Shadbolt. The pair made a joint statement in The Times, detailing their vision for data-driven innovation and increased government transparency regarding this information.” Read more

Francis Maude, Minister of the United Kingdom’s Cabinet Office, recently shared his vision for Open Government. Maude writes, “The movement for transparency and openness in government took decisive steps forward last week. As lead co-chair of the Open Government Partnership, the UK hosted the first ministerial level meeting in Britain of this growing international initiative. But this meeting wasn’t just symbolically significant. We put in place key measures that will help move the OGP from fine words to accountable actions.”

Maude continues, “At the same time, the Open Data Institute, based in London’s Tech City, and the first organisation of its kind anywhere in the world, officially opened for business. Read more

John Kaye of the British Library recently shared his views on what open data and academia have to learn from one another. He writes, “Professor Nigel Shadbolt recently visited the Library to talk to staff about the benefits of releasing public data into the wild. He didn’t need to convince me, being a public sector researcher prior to joining the library I fought many licensing and cost battles to get my hands on the data needed for my research projects. This blog isn’t about making the case for opening up public data as this has been made many times and yielded numerous important benefits. Having worked in creating, using and disseminating both public and academic data I think that there are tools and methodologies that both areas can learn from each other.” Read more

The Semantic Technology and Business Conference – UK took place in London last week at the Millennium Goucester Hotel, and a number of themes emerged from the two-day event. A few of the sessions are highlighted below, but first, let us turn to some of the attendees to share some of their favorite insights and takeaways:

Public Sector Semantics

There was a lot of interest in the Public Sector work. One of the presentations that highlighted the Open Data movement was Nigel Shadbolt‘s Keynote presentation about the recently launched Open Data Institute. We have covered the ODI here, and Professor Shadbolt shared some exciting insights and perspectives on the Open Data economy. In his presentation, he referred to a report on which he collaborated that was published by Deloitte Analytics. This free white paper is available for download.

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The Open Data Institute has announced that Jeni Tennison will take the role of Technical Director at the Institute and Gavin Starks will take the role of CEO. The announcement states, “Created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, the ODI will open its doors this autumn and is a world-first, dedicated to incubating and nurturing new and existing businesses that want to use open data to create economic growth… The new hires will be based at the ODI’s Shoreditch HQ, which will open its doors later this year and will become a focal point for entrepreneurs and developers, start-ups and established corporates, technologists and creatives to meet, share ideas and drive growth.” Shadbolt will give a keynote address at next week’s SemTechBiz UK Conference in London. Read more

Rising Media and WebMediaBrands, producers of the Semantic Technology and Business Conference – UK (#SemTechBiz), have announced details of this year’s event, the foremost conference series on semantic technologies.

This year’s line-up of speakers includes Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Co-Director, Open Data Institute. A former President of the British Computer Society, Professor Shadbolt has been involved in a wide range of entrepreneurial activities.  In 2009, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, he was appointed as information advisor by the Prime Minister to help transform public access to Government information. Professor Shadbolt will be delivering a keynote presentation on day 1 of the conference.

The 2012 Semantic Technology and Business Conference – UK will be held on 19-20 September at The Millennium Gloucester Hotel, 4-18 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4HL.

Semantic Technology and Business Conference – UK brings together today’s industry thought leaders and practitioners to explore the challenges and opportunities impacting both corporate business leaders and technologists. The two day conference is packed with case studies and real-world perspectives, with insight and learning from global experts in technology, financial services, insurance, healthcare, publishing, government, automotive and enterprise data.

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Olivia Solon reports that Professor Nigel Shadbolt has shared an outline of the plan for the UK’s Open Data Institute. She writes, “Shadbolt told Wired.co.uk: ‘Open data is not just about transparency and accountability; there is potential for economic innovation and value to come from it.’ The Institute’s remit is fairly broad, but will primarily focus on helping private and public organisations understand how to make the most of open data. It will not actually store any data itself, but it will provide business incubation for startups, providing mentoring, advice and potentially space. Shadbolt says that the aim is to cultivate and incubate 12 companies a year.” Read more

Today, Experian, the global information services company, announced that it has acquired Garlik Limited, a provider of web monitoring services based in the United Kingdom. Garlik uses Semantic Web Technologies to help consumers protect themselves from the risks of identity theft and financial fraud.  At the last SemTechBiz UK Conference, Steve Harris, CTO of Garlik, presented “Combatting Online Crime with RDF.” Mr. Harris presented a compelling case of Garlik’s use of Semantic Technology throughout its offerings to support business-critical, highly sensitive production systems to financial institutions worldwide. Read more