Do you have a great idea for using open data to develop a teaching resource or tool? The OpenDataNI Challenge offers the chance of winning £20,000 to make it happen.

The competition, which is jointly funded by the Department of Finance and the Department for the Economy on behalf of the Northern Ireland Digital Catapult, is themed ‘Using Open Data for Education’.

Applicants are asked to harness the power of public sector open data on OpenDataNI in the development of new teaching resources which can be used by schools. The resource can be developed for either primary or secondary level education.

The proposal is left deliberately wide so that solutions could be pitched using open data to provide rich resources across a range of subjects within the NI curriculum such as environmental, social and geographical topics as well as maths, computer programming etc.

Competition details

The competition will be run in two phases.

Phase 1 – applicants are asked to submit a paper based proposal for their teaching resource/tool. From these applications, 6 will be awarded £2,500 and given 6 weeks to develop their idea to a prototype

Phase 2 – 2 of the 6 prototypes will be selected to receive £20,000 each and given 15 weeks to develop a fully working teaching resource

The open data portal brings together a range of data from government departments and other public sector organisations and is free to copy, adapt, commercially exploit and publish. The aim of the Open Data Strategy is to embed a culture of ‘open by default’ within the public sector here to drive public service efficiency, encourage innovation, and improve the economy.

Information evening

An information evening sponsored by Ulster University will be held on Tuesday 21st June 2016 at 6pm – 8pm in the Conner Lecture Theatre, 25-51 York Street, Belfast BT15 1ED. The event will give potential applicants the opportunity to hear from and engage with teaching professionals from various subject areas in order to generate ideas.

Registration for the information evening is essential – please register here