Friday lunchtime lecture: The tenacity of building a business from FOI and open data

In November 2015, Gavin Chait set out to create a service that 66 local authorities claimed would cause a crime wave. After researching this and rejecting their conclusions, Gavin pursued the case through the Information Commissioner. In February 2017, a decision was reached, and he won. Gavin was seeking to create a data service offering all entrepreneurs access to quality business intelligence usually only affordable to corporations. His first task was to secure the data he needed, and make it open. Find out what happened next, and what Gavin Chait has learned from the data released from authorities which have finally been forced to publish. About Gavin Chait Gavin Chait is an economist, engineer, data scientist, sometime-traveller, and author. He has written two science fiction novels, “Lament for the Fallen” published in 2016 and “Our Memory Like Dust” to be released on 27 July 2017. He has consulted on open data for the World Bank and WHO, and led open data projects as far afield as Tanzania, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico and Australia. He founded Pikhaya in 2015, and is currently working with the Gates Foundation and WHO on a global public health data-sharing project. He also drinks a great deal of coffee.