CABI Blog

Scientists from CABI’s centre in India has showcased their expertise in open data at the first annual Public Policy Dialogues Conference hosted by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad.

The event served as a gathering of experts in the field where both researchers and practitioners took the opportunity to learn from shared experiences and insights to generate new visions for policy development.

Roundtable discussions saw researchers and practitioners from the public and private sector, academic institutions and think tanks, as well as civil society organisations, come together to address critical issues in public policy in India.

Challenges in Open Data Process

Key to the talks was discussion on how collaborative efforts can address the challenges in the Open Data Process.

CABI presented its work under the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded ‘Enabling data access to support innovation in decision agriculture: soil health, agronomy and fertilizer’ project. Mr Arun Jadhav was invited by ISB as an expert panellist for the roundtable discussion on “Open data ecosystem in India”.

Other members of the panel included esteemed representatives from the government, not for profit organisations as well as the private sector. The experiences and vision of the open data ecosystem and open data portals were discussed by different panellists.

Deliberations also captured the current open data landscape across the central government, state governments and private sector and aimed towards developing a collaborative approach for accelerated sharing of open government data.

CABI’s expertise shared

Mr Jadhav presented CABI’s work under the Data Policy & Practice sub-theme and how assets created in the Data Sharing Toolkit might help government stakeholders and private organisations discuss challenges around FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and open data with like-minded people going forward.

Furthermore, a research poster entitled “Study of the data ecosystem and data sharing constraints for enhanced data driven decision making in public policy” was also presented at the conference by Akanksha Nagpal.

The poster, co-authored by Ruthie Musker and Mr Jadhav, focused on CABI’s work related to a FAIR principles framework for data sharing that would enhance evidence-based decision making for public policy which reaches varied stakeholders.

It also showcased how CABI is working towards embedding FAIR principles into funded projects to allow researchers/practitioners curate, analyse and share data. This is so that policymakers can use it for decision-making using the systems thinking approach, human centred design and data ecosystem study.

Policy decisions

The poster also highlighted that the large amount of data collected by private and public sector can be used and reused for efficient, effective and ethical policy decisions. This helps foster innovation and drives organizational and sector change through greater transparency.

The work was well appreciated by the audience and its importance was recognised in light of increasing use of data for public policy.

Additional information

Main image: CABI’s centre in India has showcased their expertise in open data at the first annual Public Policy Dialogues Conference hosted by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad (Credit: CABI).