Open data partnership to create new opportunities

The Palaszczuk Government is tapping into an international network to fully realise the potential of open data with the announcement of a funding agreement with the Open Data Institute Queensland (ODIQ).

Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch today announced a two-year, $400,000 funding agreement with ODIQ to maximise the benefits of having open and transparent access to government data.

“Nationally, the value of this data has been estimated at up to $25 billion a year and if we can tap into this potential, the benefit to the Queensland economy is obvious,” Ms Enoch said.

“Open data is one of the building blocks to create the knowledge-based jobs of the future.

“It can enable research and innovation, stimulate startups, drive productivity and build on our natural advantages.”

ODIQ CEO Maree Adshead said open data offered many tangible benefits for Queenslanders.

“'Reusing and re-purposing our data to solve social problems and create new business opportunities has been proven in the UK to generate benefits of up to $10 in return for every $1 invested,” Ms Adshead said.

“We look forward to working with the Queensland Government to unlock that potential here.”

ODIQ is the first Australian node of the United Kingdom-based Institute and Ms Enoch said this partnership would provide the Government with the opportunity to better tap into the Institute’s local and international open data community, which includes startups, businesses, researchers and academia.

She said the agreement with ODIQ would deliver a number of key outcomes including:

• identify high-value data held by Queensland Government agencies that Queensland industries would benefit from
• help design tools for Queensland businesses to increase usage of data for better business decision making
• develop an Australian-first digital platform to automate the certification of all datasets published by Queensland Government agencies

“Through the Queensland Government’s open data portal we have more than 2000 datasets and almost 8000 resources online covering traffic, transport, healthcare, crime, land use, tides and air quality,” Ms Enoch said.

“We want to make sure this data is freely available and able to be used either to create apps, establish research programs, start new businesses or help improve government service delivery.”

Media contact: Daniel Lato 0438 830 201