Last September 27 and 28, took place in Medialab Prado the start, or start phase, of MAD data, the first open data datathon in Madrid; that is, the first open data competition in a given time and space, in the city. This datathon is organized by everis and the City of Madrid via Madrid Emprende, and has the collaboration of Medialab Prado, the EMTs of Madrid (Municipal Transport Company), and Red.es.
MADdata is geared toward entrepreneurs, developers, designers, data journalists, and social innovators. The participating teams have created a preliminary version of their application during the MADdata start weekend.
The event began with a presentation ceremony in which they participated Mark Garcia (Director of Medialab Pradeither), Miguel Lagares Lemos (Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Nimbeo), Pablo Martinez Andres (app developer Madrid Subway|Bus|Commuter), Javier Leal Fernandez (Partner responsible for the public sector of everis) Y Pedro Gonzalez Torroba (Managing Director of Madrid Emprende).
As Miguel Lagares quoted, \”Data is the oil of the 21st century\”. The importance of open data was highlighted by Pedro González, who said that \”the open data policy is key for the Madrid City Council\”.
The director of Madrid Emprende explained that open data is a development tool for the city, and facilitates transparency. A municipal initiative to highlight in this regard is the Open Data Portal of the City of Madrid, which can be accessed at http://datos.madrid.es
After the start phase of MADdata, 5 finalist projects will be chosen, which will deliver the final version; and later the winning teams will be chosen. MAD data will distribute 15,000 euros in prizes in three categories: Business Innovation, Social Innovation and Data Visualization.
More information:
– MADdata website: http://www.maddata.es
– News about MADdata on the everis website: http://ow.ly/C7dEK
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