Open Data City Officer

Even though educational offerings on open data are available we strongly believe there is a need for: a) an occupational profile that is focusing on smart cities' open data at the European level ...

Even though educational offerings on open data are available we strongly believe there is a need for: a) an occupational profile that is focusing on smart cities' open data at the European level b) a systematic curriculum able to cover all different aspects of an Open Data City Officer - OpenDCO. The above two factors constitute the main contribution of this project which is considered quite important taking into account the impact open data may have on the economic growth of the European Cities. Up to now, little emphasis has been given to the way smart cities/municipalities are organized to decide upon such issues and even less on training the personnel on the new skills required. Smart cities development was mainly considered as a technological problem. However, today smart cities are viewed as ecosystems and an important aspect for their development is the availability of well trained, educated and qualified personnel. These profiles are smart city planner, smart city IT head and smart city IT expert. Smart cities staff need need to constantly keep upgrading their knowledge and skills in the development and exploitation of open data leading to the need for a new job profile named “Open Data City Officer - OpenDCO”.

All the activities proposed in the proposal and listed below were fully implemented as per the project. They included all the project meetings, dissemination activities and publications but most importantly the development, translation and upload of all 21 courses that were fully tested and piloted. Participants had the opportunity to learn and practice their new skills and receive a certification upon successful completion.