On March 8th, we celebrated the great Open Data Day, organized by the Open Knowledge Foundation Greece with the support of the IT and Electronic Systems Engineering Department of IHU and UPCAST Project, funded by the European Union.
This year the event had the title “Open Data and Sustainable Development Goals”, it was held in the main auditorium of the Department with the presence of the Rector’s Authorities of IHU and the Administration of the Department, who opened the event with greetings. Also, the CEO Open Knowledge Foundation International Ms. Renata Avila addressed greetings online.
The morning session opened with the speech of the Keynote Speaker Dr. Athanasios Thanopoulos, President of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), who spoke about European official statistics at the crossroads of open data. He referred to the paradox of the Data Revolution (Data Revolution) regarding the huge amount of data that is generated in multiple ways and at multiple levels. He described the Greek statistical system, the limitations of official statistics and finally analyzed the general production model of official statistics and the European data landscape.
UPCAST project elected officials also participated in the conference where they analyzed their pilots. Dr. Mariza Koukovini from Abovo Information and Communication Technologies Private Company with the presentation “Compliance Automation in Open Data Processing Environments”, Dr. Olga Papadodima from the Institute of Chemical Biology, National Research Foundation, who mentioned and analyzed the contribution of genomics to cancer research and the resulting need for open data in medical research, and Ms. Paraskevi Tarani, representative of the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Development Authority (MDAT SA AOTA), who spoke about “Climate change and open data”. In particular, she analyzed the challenges for the Greek cities of the European Mission “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities”. Finally, the student team of Open Knowledge, established under the supervision of Associate Professor Charalampos Bratsas within the framework of the Open Knowledge Foundation Greece, presented the project ‘Open Data Index.’ The aim of the project is to search for, collect, and evaluate datasets from the municipalities of the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area, developed in collaboration with the MDAT SA AOTA.
After the event, there was a discussion with the partners of UPCAST and the president of ELSTAT, Mr. Thanopoulos, an extensive report was made on the cooperation between OKFN Greece and the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) for the utilization of the results of the UPCAST project and the active participation of ELSTAT in the pilots of the Greater Urban Development Authority of Thessaloniki (MDAT AE AOTA) and OKFN Greece.