The Government of Canada is making huge strides to bring Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government to everyday Canadians. It has committed to engage Canadians online, make government more transparent and provide access to useful public sector data.
With these goals in mind, over 900 hackers, innovators and academics helped put the Government’s commitments into action by competing in a 48-hour challenge - the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE). The competition was held from February 28 to March 2, 2014, with participants using Government of Canada Open Data to develop new and innovative apps.
Inspired by the theme “Solving problems and increasing productivity through the use of Open Data,” participants spent the weekend at OneEleven, a Toronto tech incubator, and at dozens of other locations across Canada, coming up with innovative app ideas to benefit Canadians.
Participants used datasets available on the Government’s Open Data Portal, data.gc.ca, which includes information on fuel consumption ratings to border wait times to demographic information. The data was collected from 35 federal departments and agencies.
The first of two rounds of judging is now complete. A judging panel reviewed over 100 submissions based on the following criteria:
- Innovative concept
- Art and design
- Usefulness
- Use of Open Data
- Stability
Fifteen finalists were selected to compete in the CODE Grand Finale on March 28 in Toronto. The 15 finalists will demonstrate and promote their apps before a panel of judges. The judges will have the difficult task of determining the top winner of the $25,000 prize, provided by event sponsor OpenText Corporation, and two other prizes of $5,000, and $1,000.
The Fan Favourite Prize will be chosen by you. Beginning now, vote for your favourite CODE 2014 app. To cast your ballot, check out the following top 15 app profiles by visiting our Winners’ Showcase. The winner of the Fan Favourite Prize will be taking home $1,000 in prize money.
If you have an idea for an app of your own, you can also Submit Your App Idea, and it just might inspire someone for the next competition.
Congratulations to all CODE participants: your creativity and innovation are ensuring that Canadians benefit and prosper from Open Data in the 21st century.
The data.gc.ca team
