On the morning of August 8th, the launch ceremony of Shanghai Open Data Application Challenge (SODA) 2019was held. The ceremony was hosted by Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization and organized by Shibei Hi-tech Park. Chen Mingbo, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal Government, was present and made a speech. Lu Xiaodong, Secretary of Jing'an District Party Committee, and Zhang Ying, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, started the 5th SODA Challenge together. Ms. Zhang unveiled SODA Incubator with Zhou Haiying, Deputy Chief of Jing'an District. She also presented awards to Top 10 departments of Shanghai Public Data Opening in 2018 along with Sheng Qiang, Deputy Counsel of Municipal Government Office.
In the digital modern society, data is becoming a new factor of production. More abundant and applicable data resources have become an important part of a good business environment. Since 2012, Shanghai has been committed to boosting urban development with data openness, continuously building and improving the national big data demonstration pilot area, and further highlighting Shanghai's open advantage. In the third-party evaluation of the nationwide local government data opening, Shanghai ranked first in provincial level for three consecutive years.
It is reported that Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, together with the Office of the Municipal Government, the Municipal Judicial Bureau and the Municipal Big Data Center, has accelerated the formulation of the “Interim Measures for the Opening of Public Data in Shanghai”, which will be elaborated around management system, open mechanism, platform construction, safety management and ecological construction. It is learned that the measures will hopefully become the first local government regulation specially for the opening of public data in China, which will consolidate the achievements of reform and lay a solid legal guarantee for the opening of public data in Shanghai.
According to reports, Shanghai will implement various innovative mechanisms in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations. It is important to explore the open model of classification, combine with social demand, and open more high value data to local conditions; It is necessary to establish expert committee recommendation mechanism to gather expert resources in various fields, and ensure the professionalism and scientificity of open data work; It is wise to explore the whole process security mechanism, focus on privacy protection and risk early warning, use a higher level of data protection to ensure the effective and orderly advancement of open data; What’s more, it is also advisable to establish a pluralistic ecological cooperation system, encourage all sectors of society to participate in the opening and application of data, and create a prosperous and win-win cooperation pattern.
The SODA Challenge has been held for four consecutive sessions, which is an important measure for the city to create an open ecology and promote data value mining. With the theme of "Use innovative data application and enjoy urban life", the SODA Challenge will focus on five main tracks of transportation, environmental protection, health, commerce and urban management, soliciting innovative applications of open data from the global market. It is reported that the Challenge will provide nearly 100 1.5TB special data and provide data security environment protection on the basis of 2100 open public data. The Challenge has been widely concerned and actively participated by all walks of life. Only two weeks after the opening of the Challenge, more than 200 teams have signed up.
The forum focus on exploring experiences and practices of public data openness. International experts were invited, including Ania Calderon, the Executive Director of the international open data charter, Qiu Shengming, Deputy Director of Singapore National Artificial Intelligence Program Office, and Hongyi Kawabata from University of Tsukuba. Many universities were also invited to discuss difficulties of open data and the future cooperation, including Fudan University, East China University of Political Science and Law, Wuhan University, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Ali Yun.
Experts highlighted that data resources are becoming an indispensable soil in the age of intelligence. It is quite important to open up the innovative application of data, guide the circulation and cooperation of social data resources, and gather talents and capitals. All of these will create a good environment for the development of artificial intelligence, constantly promote new industries, new formats and new models, create artificial intelligence plateau, and promote the high-quality development of digital economy.
Relevant units, enterprises and experts were present.
