City takes transparency to the next level
Note to editors: the following is an extract from a speech made by Mayor De Lille at the launch of the City's Open Data Portal today, 27 January 2015.
Today the City of Cape Town takes another step towards becoming the first digital city in Africa, with the launch of our Open Data Portal. Four months after being approved by full Council on 25 September 2014, the portal will go live today for the first time.
During our tenure as the World Design Capital for 2014, we wanted to find a way to use design to make government more transparent. As such, our Open Data Portal is the City's contribution to the World Design Capital 2014 legacy.
This is a historic day, as we join cities such as New York, London and Helsinki that have forged the way for cities to make their data sets available to the public. In today's knowledge economy, access to data is instrumental in becoming competitive.
The City is making its data available to all for free and in a useable format. This will enable innovation, as entrepreneurs are empowered to use the data to create new applications. As a City that believes in transparency, making this data available will empower residents to hold us accountable.