Open Data in Developing Economies

Recent years have witnessed considerable speculation about the
potential of open data to bring about wide-scale transformation. The
bulk of existing evidence about the impact of open data, however,
focuses on high-income countries. Much less is known about open data’s
role and value in low- and middle-income countries, and more generally
about its possible contributions to economic and social development.
Open Data for Developing Economies features in-depth case studies on how
open data is having an impact across the developing world-from an
agriculture initiative in Colombia to data-driven healthcare projects in
Uganda and South Africa to crisis response in Nepal. The analysis built
on these case studies aims to create actionable intelligence regarding:
(a) the conditions under which open data is most (and least) effective
in development, presented in the form of a Periodic Table of Open Data;
(b) strategies to maximize the positive contributions of open data to
development; and (c) the means for limiting open data’s harms on
developing countries.