Open Data Lab Jakarta to help cities use data

The Open Data Lab in Jakarta is launching a new project to help cities innovate with data in decision-making.

The ‘Innovating for Open Cities’ project will include work on five areas - urban planning, environment, risk and disaster management, and procurement.

It will “promote a culture of developing and testing data-­driven, innovative ideas, prototypes and solutions to practical challenges”, the Lab wrote in a blog post.

The Lab set up by the World Wide Web Foundation will work with officials to discuss supply of government data and how they can benefit from citizens’ ideas for the data.

It will also help civil society groups work with data experts to tackle social, political and economic challenges with data. There are a growing number of smart city projects across Indonesia, but these have failed to make room for citizens’ involvement in shaping the cities, the Lab said.

“We want to support innovators at the local level to develop and test open data­-driven solutions that contribute to inclusive, sustainable and thriving open cities,” it wrote.

The Lab is partnering with international network Making All Voices Count on the project, which will be officially launched on 26 May.

Image by Ignatius Win Tanuwidjaja, licensed under CC BY 2.0