Open Government Data in China: Lesson Learnt and New Approaches

Abstract

With the recently released mandate listing open data as one of ten key national projects for big data development, open data is rapidly growing in China. More than 15 open data portals have been launched in the past few years and couple of major cities including Beijing and Shanghai have run open data competitions to form local open data ecosystem. While there were successful stories, local governments in China face many challenges such as lack of clear guidance on what data could be open, how to secure departments' buy-in, and how to track the usage of open data. This panel thus aims to bring in front-line open data practitioners to share experience and exchange knowledge in tackling those challenges and explore possible new interventions.