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Caribbean Open Data hackathon conference to unveil software apps begins April 11 at Mona Campus, UWI
The Caribbean Open Data Conference is a regional technology conference and code sprint, focused on open data, software innovation, and technology trends. It is the largest technology conference in the region. The event combines a two day conference with a 24-hour code sprint, in which teams of developers compete to build solutions to social problems using open data.
In 2012 the conference was branded “Developing The Caribbean” to highlight the focus on Open Data as a catalyst for regional development, and the role of software development as a locus of innovation.
The Developing The Caribbean conference brings together government institutions and civil society with media, private sector and technology communities in the region around open data and global technology trends to catalyze local innovation through the creation of solutions to common development problems.
Since its inception in February 2010, Developing The Caribbean has attracted global experts on open data and innovation, such as john Wonderlich and Eric Mill of the Sunlight Foundation, Tariq Khokar, Open Data Evangelist, regional dignitaries such as the Rt Hon Edward Seaga, former Prime Minister of Jamaica and Ms Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General, Caribbean Telecommunications Union, Dr. Philomen Harrison, Project Director.
The event in the past has also facilitated the launch of a number government data sets and APIs. From national census data in the Dominican Republic, agriculture and fisheries data in Trinidad & Tobago to hotels and tourist attractions data in Jamaica, Developing The Caribbean has been central to driving awareness and dialogue on Caribbean open data and catalizing the region’s emerging regional apps economy. A detailed report of the 2012 conference can be retrieved here: http://data.org.jm/DevelopingCaribbean_CountryReports.pdf
Event: Caribbean Open Data Conference and Code Sprint
This conference takes place simultaneously in six Caribbean countries:
Jamaica; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Guyana; Suriname; and Trinidad & Tobago.
Date: Thursday, April 11 to Friday, April 12, 2013
Time: Begins 8:30 a.m. each day
Venue: Faculty of Law Building
The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus
Hosted By: Mona School of Business and Management at The University of the West Indies and Slashroots
The headliners for the conference are:
– Paul Kukubo, CEO of the Kenyan ICT Board which champions that country’s open data initiative.
– Alexander Howard, an expert in data journalism and the Washington Correspondent for O’Reilly Media.
The Caribbean Open Data Conference has established a reputation for combining the biggest Hackathon/Codesprint in the Caribbean with a high quality conference on open data and emerging technologies. Under the theme “Developing the Caribbean”, the conference will launch in Jamaica on Thursday, April 11 at 8:30 a.m.
The code sprint, which takes place over the two days, will culminate in the unveiling of software applications (apps) that address some of a range of issues relating to tourism, education, agriculture and the economy.
Source: Go Jamaica