Government commits £10m to Open Data Institute

The government has published its plans on establishing an Open Data Institute in East London to drive economic growth and promote the use of public data.

Plans for the institute were first outlined by the government in November, with the aim of creating a "go to" venue for those looking for new products, entrepreneurial opportunities and economic growth from open data. The institute is being developed with £10m worth of funding over five years from the government's innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board.

The initial focus of the organisation will be on "incubating and nurturing" new businesses that want to exploit open data for economic growth, according to the Cabinet Office.

The government hopes to have the organisation, which will be co-directed by open data advocates Sir Tim Berners-Lee and professor Nigel Shadbolt, operating by autumn 2012.

Speaking to Guardian Government Computing in March, Shadbolt said that he was excited about the launch of the Open Data Institute.

"We're getting close to getting the business plan finalised, and then we hope to be up and running pretty intensely by September [2012]," he said at the time.

Commenting on the plans, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, said: "We don't just want to lead the world in releasing government data - our aim is to make the UK an international role model in exploiting the potential of open data to generate new businesses and stimulate growth.

"The Open Data Institute is a big step towards this. Establishing a centre of excellence and expertise in the heart of technology start-ups will support the very best UK talents to innovate and drive value from the data this government is opening up."

The announcement follows movement in other parts of the government's open data drive. Earlier this week, Heather Savory was appointed chair of the open data user group, which will support the work of the government's new data strategy board, and advise it on what public sector data should be prioritised for release as open data.

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