Elena Kvochko's blog

As part of the World Bank supported South-South knowledge exchange on Open Government, on February 28, the ICT Sector Unit in partnership with the World Bank Institute organized a videoconference-based workshop that provided a core group of policy makers from Macedonia and Moldova with relevant and timely input based on experiences of Brazil, the United Kingdom and the US. The program enabled the client countries to develop bold but focused Action Plans to be submitted to the Open Government Partnership at the April 2012 meeting in Brazil.

The global open data movement is gaining momentum, as more and more countries are looking into the benefits of releasing government data to the public, encouraging the re-use of data and the creation of new applications based on this data. Increasing numbers of entrepreneurs rely on public data in their business activities. Opening up data is a “victory for those of us who believe that the best way to get value from data is to give it away”, according to the Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes.

Amid the current popularity of Apple iPad, companies around the globe look for innovative solutions capable to compete with the iPad. UK-based manufacturer DataWind jointly withthe Indian Institute of Technology reached the headlines of major media after announcing a new tablet computer Aakash, which is marketed at the price of $35. On December 8, 2011, the World Bank invited a member of Board of DataWind Sunit Tuli to share more about the features of Aakash.