The Caribbean Open Data Conference is a regional technology conference and code sprint, focused on open data, software innovation, and technology trends. With over 900 conference attendees and 120 registered developers spread across 5 islands at the 2012 event, it is the largest technology conference in the region. The event (http://developingcaribbean.org/) combines a two day conference with a 24-hour code sprint, in which teams of developers compete to build solutions to social problems using open data.
In 2012 the conference was branded “Developing the Caribbean” to highlight the focus on Open Data as a catalyst for regional development, and the role of software development as a locus of innovation. It also reflected the strong affiliation with “Developing Latin America”, a similar multi-country event staged across eight (8) Latin American countries (http://desarrollandoamerica.org/).
While Caribbean societies share a wide range of pressing economic, social and environmental demands in many areas such as agriculture, trade, tourism, and education, solutions to these problems have traditionally been discussed in isolation. The Developing The Caribbean conference brings together government institutions and civil society with media, private sector and technology communities in the region around open data and global technology trends to catalyze local innovation through the creation of solutions to common development problems.
Since its inception in February 2010, Developing The Caribbean (DEVCA) has attracted global experts on open data and innovation, such as john Wonderlich and Eric Mill of the Sunlight Foundation, Tariq Khokar, Open Data Evangelist, World Bank, Carlos de La Fuente , Director of Technology Services, Fundación CTIC – España); regional dignitaries such as the Rt Hon Edward Seaga, former Prime Minister of Jamaica and Ms Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General, Caribbean Telecommunications Union, Dr. Philomen Harrison, Project Director,
Regional Statistics, CARICOM and a myriad of other international and regional experts presenting on the open data movement, software development best practices, data visualization approaches and innovation policy.
The event has also facilitated the launch of a number government data sets and APIs. From national census data in the Dominican Republic, agriculture & fisheries data in Trinidad to hotels and tourist attractions data in Jamaica, DEVCA has been central to driving awareness and dialogue on Caribbean open data and catalizing the region’s emerging regional apps economy. A detailed report of the 2012 conference can be retrieved here: http://data.org.jm/DevelopingCaribbean_CountryReports.pdf
