-Datathon for Social Good-
- Announcing the “Datathon” challenge: Build ideas, concepts, applications and even businesses using anonymised datasets provided by Telefónica, ODI and MIT
- Criteria: To create something that improve lives
- Winner fast tracked on next Wayra call in the UK; The runner-up (£1000); 3rd place (£500)
London, UK, 29 Aug: Telefónica Dynamic Insights, The Open Data Institute (ODI) and the MIT are staging a “Datathon” Challenge at this year’s Campus Party which takes place 2-6 September at The O2. Together these organisations will provide datasets to teams of coders, hackers and developers for them to create ideas, concepts and applications, all with the ambition of improving the way we live. The winner will be fast tracked on the next UK call for Wayra, Telefónica’s start up accelerator programme.
Gavin Starks, CEO of the Open Data Institute, said: “Open Data is a key emergent trend in the web and society at the moment. Commercial companies are also discovering that there is a strong economic case for action. As an ODI Partner Member, Telefonica is demonstrating leadership in this space. With this competition they are both opening up their own data and offering a place in their incubator to the team that can find the most beneficial uses for it. These kinds of initiatives help unlock economic, social, and environmental value using open data as a raw material.”
The following data sets will be made available:
Geo-localised open data sets in transportation, hospital admission and emergency services location; non-localised Twitter data sets; and anonymised and aggregated data from Telefónica’s UK mobile network including calculations of footfall for the London Metropolitan Area over the course of 3 weeks;
For instance, understanding how crowds move towards high streets during the busy Christmas shopping period can help emergency services allocate their resources more effectively, or help manage the flow of road traffic on London’s busiest routes.
Sandy Pentland, Director of the MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory, said: “These initiatives are critical in unveiling how people behave, and what impact those behaviours have on the quality of our lives. With a clear picture of what reality looks like we can set specific goals on how we can improve our commute time, reduce our carbon footprint and improve people’s health”
All teams need to bring are their own laptops. They will be allowed to test any software created on Telefónica’s Big Data tool, Cosmos, which is available in the FI-WARE platform.
Steve Alder, CEO Telefónica Dynamic Insights, said: ” The datathon at Campus Party is a perfect opportunity to explore how anonymised and aggregated data can be used to deliver real benefits back to society. I’m thrilled that MIT and The ODI – world leaders in this space – have agreed to help run the competition with us. I can’t wait to see how far the teams can push our data to find ways to improve people’s lives”
For application details please visit: http://ow.ly/oc2Xt
Campus Party will be host to 10,000 ‘campuseros’ – some of the brightest young minds in tech from across Europe – to explore and celebrate exciting new technologies from robotics to gaming, and coding to green tech, helping inspire a new generation of digital makers. The event is Europe’s biggest and most ambitious technology festival, taking place this year at The O2 in London from 2 to 7 September.
Notes to Editors
Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation and number of customers. From this outstanding position in the industry, and with its mobile, fixed and broadband businesses as the key drivers of its growth, Telefónica has focused its strategy on becoming a leading company in the digital world. The company has a significant presence in 24 countries and a customer base that amounts close to 316 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy. Telefónica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million direct shareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4.551.024.586 ordinary shares traded on the Spanish Stock Market (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) and on those in London, New York, Lima, and Buenos Aires.
More on Campus Party Europe: www.campus-party.eu
Twitter: @campuspartyeu
Media contacts:
Simon Lloyd – Telefónica Europe
European Head of External Communications
m +44 (0)7912 072777
simon.lloyd@Telefónica.com
Natalie Homer – Telefónica Europe
Media Relations Manager
m +44 (0)7718 188591
natalie.homer@Telefónica.com
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