One of the biggest global trends in recent years is for governments to release data for development of applications in the IT industry. Open Data no doubt has become a engine that drives innovation and growth as well as creates many job opportunities. To better understand what is going on in the world of Open Data, the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) at MOEA hosted the Open Data Application Conference 2016 today, inviting speakers from Google and Mapbox (one of the Open Data US) to share their insights. More than 250 representatives from the industry, government, academia, and research institutes attended the conference and exchanged ideas with global experts hoping to develop applications with more value-added and explore new business opportunities.
Wu Tsung-Tsong, Minister without Portfolio, pointed out during the opening ceremony that Open Data and its applications as well as governance are very important parts of data economics today. He learned that quite a few developers have incorporated data released by government into services in agriculture, transport, and tourism and started their own businesses. Government is determined to make more data available to the public in the future. Wu Ming-Chi, Director General of IDB, echoed with Minister Wu by stating it is not only the industry itself that will be changed by Open Data, but how the administration will change as well. The IDB will continue to help enterprises utilize Open Government Data to develop “killer applications” in the near future.
Mr. Hoffa, developer advocate and software engineer from Google, shared how their partner companies in different countries benefit from Google Open Data solutions. He also elaborated on how Google manages Open Data and takes its use in business to a new level. Yang Xinnong, Director for Business Development in Asia at the globally-renowned start-up Mapbox, talked about how they made it to USA Open Data 500 within three years of its founding. Mapbox optimizes geographic Open Data to provide all kinds of mapping services. This makes Mapbox a favorite partner for some international titans, such as Evernote, Yelp, Spotify, Financial Times, and Uber.
In the last industry talk session, speakers talked about Open Data in a more interactive way. They exchanged ideas with local participants, and the conference created fruitful results.