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Open Innovations is winding down and will no longer be commencing new work from May 2026.

Autumn newsletter 2024

Always #RadicallyOpen

Our mission is to be #RadicallyOpen, we like to share - so our newsletter is a short update and an invitation for you to take a look at our latest data projects and tools. Despite being a small, independent not-for-profit team, we fit a lot into our schedule. Everything we do is published on our website for others to use - these are just some of the most recent highlights. It's only a short read and could help you shortcut a project or task, so please read on and get in touch if you have any questions, ideas or just want to connect.

Project Launches…

This autumn we are excited to start work on a number of new data & innovation projects with some new clients ready to take on working openly & collaboratively:

Read on to find out more…

Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture

Having delivered the Bradford 2025 Data Strategy, we're excited to have the opportunity to work on delivering the first release of data. Having worked closely with the team at LEEDS 2023 to create their groundbreaking data dashboard we believe that we're ideally placed to help the Bradford 2025 team deliver some significant legacy cultural data infrastructure for Bradford, the West Yorkshire region and further afield. Watch our website for updates.

Liverpool Buses

We are going to work with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) to build the data infrastructure that enables them to evaluate the effectiveness of the buses that actually run vs the buses that were timetabled across Liverpool. We will also explore the potential to add Mersey Rail Data to this infrastructure. Currently, we're developing the code to do this, and you can expect to see visualisations and a technical blog soon.

techUK Local Digital Index

We're excited to announce the launch of a new project to create techUK's Local Digital Index for the next 3 years (2024-2026) in partnership with The Data City. In simple terms, we're going to build a tool to see the impact and value of the tech sector for the national and regional economies. Have a look at the work in progress website.

Screenshot of the techUK local digital index homepage
techUK Local Digital Index home page
Credit: Open Innovations

Leeds City Council Culture Programmes

We're delighted to be working with Leeds City Council and Leeds Culture Programmes, a Leeds City Council service that aims to ensure that culture is at the heart of the Council's key policy and strategy, and works with the creative sector to promote growth and engagement in the region. We've been helping them to showcase data on their operations, investments, grant programmes, events and partnerships on an open Culture Dashboard. The site is still in its early days, and there is much development to be done, but we wanted to share an early glance at what we're working on… please note this site is in development and the data is not verified.

Radically Open mission led work …

World Of Housing

Housing is at the forefront of the UK's political discussion. In her first speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves announced her commitment to "Get Britain Building again", promising 1.5 million new homes over the next 5 years. Housing is an area that we've got quite a lot of experience in. Last year, our Head of Data, Tom Forth, appeared on Channel 4 to discuss the housing crisis.

Using open data, we've created tools and visualisations for different aspects of housing, from vacant homes to brownfield site capacities. We want to build on the good work we have already done, so we are launching a new housing-specific project. Over the next few months, the team will be gathering data to create insights into the world of housing. Read our blog to find out what we have already done and where our focus will take us next. Get in touch if you have a specific question or request, or think you can contribute.

  • Screenshot of a hex cartogram showing vacant homes % by English local authority.

Toolbox

Open Innovations is all about doing and sharing. Our Toolbox is a great example of this. It demonstrates just some of the tools we have designed and built that are free for all to use, share and learn from.

This summer, we have added a couple of new tools to our toolbox:

  • ONS-GeoJSON-fixer tool: This helps make GeoJSON files from the ONS Geoportal meet the 2018 GeoJSON standard by converting Eastings/Northings into longitudes/latitudes and making sure that polygons are wound correctly.
  • Add GSS Codes Tool: We work with a lot of CSV files with data about wards, constituencies or local authorities. Occasionally we'll get one that contains a column of names but doesn't include the GSS codes for them. Written names can often be tricky to use in code because there are multiple ways people might refer to "Bristol" e.g. "Bristol", "City of Bristol", "Bristol, City of", "Bristol, City Of" etc. Having the GSS codes makes things a lot less ambiguous and easier to work with. This tool will let you see a CSV file as a simple table which you can then edit. If a column contains UK ward names, UK constituency names, or UK local authority names you can then create another column containing the appropriate codes. It should be very quick to do. As a bonus, it will also let you convert dates into ISO8601 format.

Get in touch if there's a tool you'd like us to develop.

Open Innovations On Tour

We have been busy over the summer and early autumn as we were invited to speak and partner at some really useful and inspiring events across the North, including:

We love connecting and learning, so if you have any events coming up you would like to invite us to, please reach out.

And to finish nicely - take a look at Paul's talk at Wuthering Bytes about Open Innovations, why we exist, what we are proud of and what happens next.

Thanks for reading. Please get in touch or visit our website.