Doing business in an “open-data” Brighton and Hove

Living and working today in Brighton and Hove really is a remarkable experience.

As city-dwellers, we live at a singular juncture in human and technological development.

Humankind has been on the planet for about 160,000 years; cities have existed for, say, 6,000 years; the internet was created barely 50 years ago.

When it comes to exploiting the potential of yet another new wave of digital disruption, few cities are better placed than Brighton and Hove, home to so much creative and digital innovation.

In the internet era, the world will be characterised by networks of networked cities, more than by the current patchwork of nation states.

That is why I am organising the United Kingdom’s first Open-data Cities Conference, to be held at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange on Friday, April 20.

The conference will address profound questions facing cities and citizens - and the businesses that serve them - in the 21st century.

What do we mean by a “networked” city? And how do we ensure Brighton and Hove is at the forefront of an historic shift? How do we use emerging technologies to create the future we want, rather than to wait passively for technology to create a take-it-or-leave-it future for us?

Conference speakers will include leading practitioners of the new technologies and protagonists in the worldwide effort to create smarter cities. And smarter businesses.

Clearly - for good and ill - Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and so on will remain a big part of the future for some time to come.

Online social networks are the arteries and veins of a world that appears to be getting smaller all the time. But the lifeblood that flows through this increasingly-networked world is data.

In a digital world, data is everywhere. It defines, describes and determines the world we live in. Usually, you can’t see it; you definitely can’t touch it. Occasionally, it is openly and freely accessible; mostly, it is locked away in databases controlled by big business or big government.

Often, you wouldn’t describe it as data in the traditional sense. What I’m talking about is not numbers in a spreadsheet; it’s much more than that. Literally, it is the “stuff” of everyday life.

The more data that is released - without strings attached, in machine-readable and non-proprietary “open” formats – the more likely it is that businesses and developers will use it to build the applications and services that world-class cities need.

Of course, I’m not urging the release of personal data relating to identifiable individuals.

When we talk about open data, we often focus largely on civic data in the public sector: data about schools, catchment areas, and property prices; about bus times and bus-stops, taxi ranks, car parks, and traffic congestion; about energy use, CO2 emissions, and carbon footprints.

Out of this data will be built myriad innovations to help citizens lead more creative and prosperous lives. Out of this data will be built the infrastructure and context in which businesses do business.

The private sector, however, can also benefit from releasing its own data. Think about retailers who release data about their products, so that others can use it to build apps that boost sales. Or publishers who release content openly so that discrete bits can be re-fashioned, re-purposed, or shared by individual readers.  Or manufacturers who can use open data to engage potential customers in the process of prototyping.

It has frequently been said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it.

One thing is certain about the future of cities in the digital age: after 160,000 years, we’re only just beginning.

There is 25% off the price of "Early Bird" tickets for Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce members. To buy a ticket for only £75, simply go to opendatacities.eventbrite.co.uk and enter the special code = Chamber

Copy by Greg Hadfield, a former Fleet Street journalist and internet entrepreneur, is organiser of the UK’s first Open-data Cities Conference. For more details, visit www.opendatacitiesconference.com

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk