Thomas Hartley (r) invited Anton Teptsov, Aimee Whitcroft, Paul Stone, Kathryn MacCullum, Mark Hall, Akash Jatan (from l) to speak at the Open Data Conference.

EIT’s School of Computing was delighted to host the Open Data Conference on Thursday.

“Open data is data anyone can use and share like weather or census data,” explained Thomas Hartley from the organising committee. “Open data and smart technologies help when it comes to city planning, establishing new businesses, creating new jobs and it can increase transparency and democratic participation.”

More than 60 delegates attended the seminar, and EIT computing students including the Tairāwhiti and Auckland campuses have been invited to watch the presentations via livestream.

Speakers from Stats NZ, GovWorks, Revera and Hitachi talked about what role regional data statistics plays in Hawke’s Bay and about current trends in regards to smart cities. They raised the question how Napier and Hastings might look as smart cities based on the model of Christchurch.

“New smart technologies and sensors will allow us to gather real-time data on all sorts of things, so we can see how the city is functioning and respond appropriately,” explains Christchurch City Council on their website. Christchurch, for instance, started to use smart sensors to ensure rubbish bins are emptied at the right time.

“The conference was a brilliant opportunity to connect with community in a way that’s relatable. Everything around us is IT- and data-driven. It’s a topic that concerns everybody,” said Thomas.