Washington, D.C. – On Monday, March 16, the Data Coalition along with U.S. government representatives will host a virtual panel titled “Innovating with Open Government Data.” This session was originally scheduled as a panel discussion at South by Southwest (SXSW). Due to the cancellation of SXSW, the Data Coalition will host this virtual program in an effort to keep the crucial conversation around open government data alive. 

The session will take place at the originally scheduled time on Monday, March 16, from 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. EDT. The panelists will discuss how they are using open data to promote government transparency and accountability to solve important issues facing the public.

Panel Line up:

• Amy Edwards, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Nick Hart, CEO, Data Coalition
• Rebecca Hutchinson, Big Data Lead, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., Acting Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce

“The value of the information collected by the U.S. government in areas such as public health, safety, weather, demographics, and federal spending is maximized when data are high-quality, accessible, and usable,” said Nick Hart, CEO of the Data Coalition. “With the passage of the Evidence Act and implementation of the White House’s Federal Data Strategy, government is making great strides in recognizing data as a strategic asset and using it for the benefit of the American public. I look forward to discussing how continued access to government data will help us understand and develop solutions to the challenges facing our country.”

“As the nation’s premiere data agency, the Census Bureau is very familiar with open data and the potential it holds to improve decision-making for governments,” said Rebecca Hutchinson, Big Data Lead at the U.S. Census Bureau. “In addition to traditional survey data, alternative data sources such as satellite imagery, payment processor data, scanner data, and web-scraped financial filings provide a unique measure of the nation’s economy. Open data can enhance our ability to provide our data users with what they need to gauge the health of the economy, get a more accurate count of regional demographics, and ultimately provide substantial benefits to the American public.”

“NOAA is focused on providing open access to its high-quality data, which can unlock vast opportunities for innovative solutions to save lives and property, protect our national resources, and expand the blue economy,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., Acting Administrator at NOAA. “NOAA collects billions of real-time environmental observations, and this trove of data is publicly available through several ways, including commercial Cloud Service Providers who simplify and accelerate accessibility. Additionally, NOAA’s emerging Earth Prediction Innovation Center will open access to the underlying model code to fully engage the scientific community to improve weather model forecast skill and accelerate research into operations.”

For more information on the original SXSW session, visit the SXSW website. 

About the Data Coalition: The Data Coalition is America’s premier voice on data policy. We advocate on behalf of the private sector and the public interest for government data to be accessible, high-quality, and used to enhance accountability, improve government effectiveness, reduce compliance costs, and stimulate innovation. Our members represent a cross-section of the technology, data analytics, and data management industry. For more information, visit datacoalition.org.

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