About

The ODI was co-founded in 2012 by the inventor of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Artificial Intelligence expert Sir Nigel Shadbolt to advocate for the innovative use of open data to affect positive change across the globe.

The ODI was co-founded in 2012 by the inventor of the web Sir Tim Berners-Lee and artificial intelligence expert Sir Nigel Shadbolt to show the value of open data, and to advocate for the innovative use of open data to affect positive change across the globe.

We’re an independent, non-profit, non-partisan company that, since our creation, has welcomed high-profile board members including Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts, Lastminute.com founder Baroness Martha Lane Fox and former European Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

Headquartered in London, with an international reach, hundreds of members, thousands of people trained, dozens of startups incubated, and a convening space based in the heart of London’s thriving Shoreditch area, we invite everyone interested in developing with data – whether on an individual, organizational or global level – to get in touch.

What we do

We work with companies and governments to build an open, trustworthy data ecosystem.

To further our mission, we strive to bring about sustainable behavior change within companies and governments that hold and use data. We do this through three key activities:

Sector programs – coordinating organizations to tackle a social or economic problem with data and an open approach.
Practical advocacy – working as a critical friend with businesses and government, and creating products they can use to support change.
Peer networks – bringing together peers in similar situations to learn together.

Ethical considerations

We advocate for and support practices that increase trust and trustworthiness: building ethical considerations into how data is collected, managed and used; ensuring equity around who can access and use data; engaging widely with affected people and organizations.

We help people identify and address how open data can be used effectively in their sector to improve decision making and processes, deliver more efficient and effective services and products, and fuel economic growth and productivity.

We connect, equip and inspire people around the world to innovate with data. We offer:

Strategic advice – identifying how data can help to achieve program goals and how to measure success, for example

Policy development and guidance – scrutinizing the interaction between general data governance practices and sector norms, for example
Technology development – creating appropriate data standards and the tools needed to support them

Research – from creating case studies of the role of data in the sector to rigorous impact evaluation

Training – including blended learning packages that combine face-to-face, eLearning and webinars

Running competitions and acceleration programs – to foster innovation in the sector

Building communities within the sector – and communicating clearly with them.