We had the privilege of hosting Minister Tony Clement, Ray Sharma and the crew from XMG Studio during their stopover in Vancouver to share their plans for CODE 2015 – a 48-hour hackathon that pits the best innovators from across the country to build the best app using the open data that’s been provided by the federal government on their open data portal. 

Canada was among the first countries to sign onto the open data and open government movement which has since blossomed into the Open Government Partnership that involves 65 countries committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive. 

Canada’s open data policy and license arrangement allows anyone to access, adapt, distribute and use the government’s data for any lawful commercial purpose. With over 210,000 data sets across 40 different government departments from weather information to population data to transportation and housing data, there’s already a treasure trove of data that can be turned into interesting applications.

Last year was the inaugural year for CODE (Canadian Open Data Experience) and involved over 900 participants from across Canada. The winning team at CODE 2014 built the newRoots app – a platform that matches new Canadians with cities that will give them the greatest opportunity to maximize their potential, be successful, and be productive citizens of Canada

This year’s CODE 2015 will prove to be even bigger, with three hackathon hubs across Canada – in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Event Details:

When: Friday, February 20 to Sunday, February 22
Where: BCTIA Innovation Hub (Suite 101 – 887 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC V5T 4T5)

For more information or to register, visit www.canadianopendataexperience.ca