BBC Agrees To Open Up Its Data

The BBC has pledged to collaborate with the Open Data Institute (ODI), Open Knowledge Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation and the Europeana Foundation in making its data available to the masses.

The public service broadcaster signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the four non-profit organisations at its London headquarters on Monday. In the future, it could apply ODI Open Data Certificates to all information it releases as part of this partnership.

“Our agreement with the BBC is a great step towards the provision of open access to one of our nation’s greatest cultural assets. We look forward to building upon these relationships,” said Stuart Coleman, commercial director at the ODI.

The ODI has also signed agreements with the multinational architectural and engineering services firm Arup and business advisory firm Deloitte.

The more the merrier

The Open Data Institute is a UK non-profit co-founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt in December 2012 to create new business models around huge amounts of data collected by the public sector.

“Since its formation just over a year ago the Open Data Institute has galvanised the debate around the economic and cultural value of open data, with the BBC taking an active role in the conversation and attending the recent ODI Summit. This MoU will give a shape to our discussions and help identify areas where we can work together to benefit the public, and I look forward to seeing the results,” said James Purnell, director of Strategy and Digital at the BBC.

Meanwhile, construction company Arup is aiming to collaborate with the ODI and its partners on the role of open data in urban planning, transport and healthcare.

“The world we live in is increasingly becoming interconnected and there is huge potential to use the data that we generate as a society to enhance our everyday lives,” said Volker Buscher, director and IT and Communications Systems practice leader at Arup.

Deloitte has also joined as a ‘partner’ to work alongside the ODI on research projects looking into the use-cases for open data. “Open data fosters both economic and social growth. It underpins transparency and the Government’s engagement with citizens; it boosts public sector performance; and it is a rich source of new insights and innovative business models that will help to spur growth. We look forward to building our relationship with the ODI under this new agreement,” said Costi Perricos, global and UK public sector leader for Deloitte Analytics.

“Deloitte and Arup are leaders in their respective fields. These partnerships represent a great opportunity to exploit open data and drive new value for everyone across professional services, design and engineering communities,” added Coleman.

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