Supporting local innovation through the Open Data Innovation Fund

To encourage home-grown innovation around open data as a tool for tackling development challenges, the D4D Program ran an Open Data Innovation Fund under which five organisations were awarded funding.

In the past few years Nepal has made significant advancements in the production, sharing and use of development data, however, challenges remain. These challenges constitute an opportunity for Nepal’s innovators to design and implement solutions that improve the availability and accessibility of (open) development data to address Nepal’s development challenges.

In September 2017, to support this process, the D4D Program launched an Open Data Innovation Fund – a first for Nepal. The Open Data Innovation Fund was established to support Nepal’s development innovators to pilot innovative data-focused solutions that seek to address key development challenges while improving the accessibility and usage of (open) development data in Nepal. The Open Data Innovation Fund aims to deliver improved accessibility and use of development data, thereby closing the gap between suppliers and users of data and supporting evidence based decision-making, monitoring and implementation of development efforts.

Through the Open Data Innovation Fund the D4D Program aims to build the capacity of Nepal’s development innovators by supporting them with funding and guidance. By supporting locally-led innovations the D4D Program will grow the skills of the selected organizations to identify and design open data initiatives; build their capacity to identify, respond to and promote user-needs, user uptake and impact; build local knowledge on open data and grow attention on open data as a tool and skillset for effective development. Through this the Open Data Innovation Fund will enhance local leadership on the open data agenda.

The Open Data Innovation Fund was launched in September 2017. Over 20 proposals were received from civil society organizations, research institutes, media organizations and companies demonstrating a keen level of interest in this agenda. The evaluation process resulted in the selection of five awardees:

-Demographic Data for Public Health Managers by Digital Data Systems for Development

-Open Disability Data Portal by the National Federation of the Disabled – Nepal

-Open Taxation Portal by LSP Associates

-Collecting and Making Real Time Weather Data Open by Rooster Logic

-Development of a Smart Data Analysis Tool by Smart Solutions