Data Mill North

Data Mill North is a collaborative website originally set up by Leeds City Council.

In March 2014, we had a plan. We wanted to tackle the challenge of increasing demands and decreasing resources in Leeds. The plan is to enable people and organizations to explore the different complex relationships between the city’s services and businesses, by collecting Open Data from multiple sources in a single website, offering greater insight into the workings of the city than ever before.

With backing from the Cabinet Office’s Release of Data Fund, we launched with the aim of kick-starting a new generation of data-driven cities and businesses. We fancy ourselves to be the first platform in the country that brings together Open Data information from multiple sectors across the city, and most importantly helps people to use that data creatively to gain understanding and new service solutions.

We’re now taking the Data Mill to the next level. We want to be the best open data site and harness the skills and creativity right across the entire region. Step forward, Data Mill North! Bradford City Council is now using this site as their open data repository and other councils in the region are showing interest. It doesn’t stop there though, it’s important that data quality and consistent data standards are also a top priority. Collaborating on one open data platform is just the start, the next step is to join all our data up to improve its value.

In 2014 Leeds City Council received the runner-up Open Data Award from NextGen and in 2016 its Innovation Labs were awarded a Nesta New Radicals award.

Following the successful re-brand to Data Mill North, we won the 2016 ODI Open Data Publisher Award and was also a finalist at the inaugural Digital Agenda Impact Awards.