Last night I attended the Open Government Partnership High Level Event at
the UN. We were about 300 people in the room with heads of state and
cabinet ministers from many of the 64 member nations in the OGP.
Presidents of Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and Montenegro made speeches
regarding their Open Government pledges.
10 Awards were given out for the best examples of Open Government and Open
Data. Nick Sinai, Deputy CTO for the USA, was recognized for work on
Data.Gov.
But the evening's top award was given to Denmark recognizing their work
creating senior citizen councils in their 98 Counties. The councils sit
alongside local government and must be consulted on all legislation that
impacts seniors. Anyone in Denmark aged 60 and older may be elected to the
Senior Councils. They have many members in their 90's and are actively
expanding the diversity of participation. As a "half-Dane" who began his
IBM career in Denmark it was a fantastic moment to see the Danish Prime
Minister, Helle Torning Schmidt, accept the award and do a selfie with
President Obama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH05eRQg1kY
(See attached file: _SBA0675.jpg)(See attached file: _SBA0738.jpg)(See
attached file: _SBA0654.jpg)(See attached file: _SBA0622.jpg)
The other highlight of the evening was President Obama's passionate speech
about Open Government and Open Data. As a Data Geek, it is incredibly
inspiring to hear your President talk about the importance of Open Data.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT8Q2A24yNQ&list=UUaFvRSR2OoZO4jHLv8yOWzA
Best Regards,
Steve
Motto: "Do First, Think, Do it Again"
