A new opportunity in technology is with Open Data

A couple of weeks ago, we received an invitation from the Mexican Federal Government and The GovLab to join a group of companies in Mexico that use open data in order to grow their businesses, develop new products or services, and promote social value. We were very excited about this, and we wanted to participate in the Open Data 100 Mexico initiative, part of the Open Data 500 network of international studies, to show the world why we care about open data, transparency, and civic hacking, and how these are new, developing terms within technology.

We got involved in open data about 2 years ago during certain hackathons, such as Open Data MX and Desarrollando América Latina. We didn’t know anything about open data; we were a bunch of hackers looking for the next great hack at a typical hackathon. At the end of the hackathons, we ended up with functional products that demanded we keep going with them because of the opportunities.

The first product we built was called Becalia, a crowdfunding platform that aimed to help very talented students gain access to the best universities. We tried to ship the product to the masses. We were invited to interviews in newspapers and on TV; the commitment was there. We couldn’t handle the project because of the expertise it required, specifically in the education industry. Also, we didn’t figure out the right legal entity to execute our value proposition of tax deduction. There’s no legal framework to start a benefit corporation like there is in the USA.

The second product we built was with 2 colleagues. We named it Codeando Mexico, similar to Code for Mexico in English. The team involved in this idea was really passionate about the opportunities and the few explorations done so far. This product was bootstrapped, with investments of time and resources every single day until we applied for a grant from AVINA Americas 7 months after the project was born. Codeando México is now a working nonprofit organization with a growing team developing new and open technologies to empower citizens and connect them better with the government.

Today, Codeando México is working closely with transparency organizations, arranging open innovation challenges, building the civic open data platform in Mexico, and driving the first civic hacker initiatives in the country, such as Civic Hack Nights.

Although Codeando México is now an independent organization, we are always in the loop on conversations about tech products with an impact in the civic context. We recognize them as the civic hacker experts, and combined with our expertise in product development, we will be able to build many products in the next couple of months.

Part of Open Data 500

After some interviews and requests for information, October 1st was the day Icalia Labs became part of the initial phase of the Datos Abiertos 100 Mexico project. We are proud to share our experience with the world and with our country.

One of the things we validated during our involvement in open data is that there are many opportunities not yet developed or well documented, at least in Latin America:

• Monetization of open data initiatives.
• Government as a true platform for citizens.
• Interoperability between data in government agencies and public/private organizations.
• National funds for civic tech initiatives.

Developing countries are places where social problems are plainly visible every single day: poverty, insecurity, impunity, hunger, and so on. We have the talent and courage to make a change now. Open data is raw information that can help individuals, organizations, companies, and governments make better decisions and see more transparent surroundings. This data is waiting to be exploited in different ways; one of the tech challenges, for instance, is making it available and interoperable among living technologies in order to help any person in need of valuable information about our cities and spaces, in real time and in a consumable way. We hope this can inspire others to get into these developing areas in technology.

Find out more about Icalia Labs in Open Data 500, and let us know about any interesting product or initiative related to the open data field that you want to build. We will be glad to chat and talk about any type of technology.