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was an unusual year for ODI Leeds as well as the rest of the world! Despite the global pandemic forcing us to close our open doors we are still here and still going strong. Thanks to the continuing support of our sponsors, partners and friends we have managed to retain our pioneering spirit and work on delivering relevant and important projects that will keep momentum going into next year.
We could not have come this far without the amazing data community and collaborators, so this annual report includes all of the work we have done this year and the data showing the impact we have delivered.
We continue to work to create a nationally and globally recognised organisation for the region that is a new type of institution - one that is #RadicallyOpen, with a mission to build and create real outcomes, focused on data and innovation.
If we tried to do this any other way imagine the cost, the resource requirements, and the bureaucracy! Being #RadicallyOpen with ODI Leeds has really demonstrated what can be achieved with no direct funding and when we align interests, collaborate,and be massively ambitious.
Thank you and here's to your continued support and a much brighter year for all in .
Paul Connell & The ODI Leeds team, January
Being ODI Leeds, we measure our work openly. Our dashboard is used to measure our progress and success. It is updated automatically and is open to all. We report on our sponsors, projects, revenue, events and social media. At a glance you can immediately see the value we deliver.
Why does what we do matter?
| Month | Events | Projects | ODI Leeds Impact |
| Jan | Data Sharing Trusts
40+ sponsors and friends meetings |
Open Gov Tech
Flight Emissions data |
Chris Skidmore - Minister for Universities visit
Network Rail, Northern Gas sponsor onboarding Radio 4, Radio 5, Sky News - broadcast interviews Inclusion on government levelling up speech |
| Feb | Homes England conference
40+ sponsors and friends meetings |
Cycle/Footfall Traffic Growth | LCC, Bradford and Calderdale Councils - sponsor renewal
BBC Newsroom live broadcast interviews |
| Mar | 25+ sponsors and friends meetings
Lockdown Open Data Day - mapping |
Binnovation | Yorkshire Water, WYCA sponsor renewal
Multiple requests for COVID19 data help |
| Apr | #OpenDataSavesLives - virtual event series launch
Leeds Digital Festival - online #PlanetData2 |
Local Authority COVID-19 Dashboard
Emergent Alliance collaboration |
Arup sponsor renewal
Multiple requests for COVID19 data help |
| May | #OpenDataSavesLives
Open Data Collaboration Group |
Local Authority COVID-19 hexmaps
Leeds 'data asset' |
Requests for help with A-Levels results data |
| Jun | #OpenDataSavesLives
Emergent Alliance |
Coastal Economies | Northern Powergrid - sponsor renewal
Support for TFN travel disruption API |
| Jul | Northernlands 2 - Online 2 day conference
ODI Members Meet up Virtual |
AirHack2 Northernlands 2 |
Diversity Explorer v2.0 |
| Aug | #OpenDataSavesLives
Open Data Collaboration Group |
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| Sept | Yorkshire Water and Leeds Anchor Network - virtual roundtable
Child Friendly Leeds Ambassador event - virtual |
Project Cygnus collaboration - working towards Net Zero | Radio 4 - broadcast interview |
| Oct | ODI Members Meet up Virtual
Radical Open Recovery Session Planet Data 3 Air Hack 2 |
ODI HQ - Covid 19 - Education project |
FutureGov, University of Leeds - sponsor renewal
Half Term Support Map - coverage |
| Nov | UK Major Ports Group - virtual conference | Radically Open Recovery - emergent alliance work | R&D Public Sector expenditure mapping |
| Dec | ODI Members meet up - virtual
Open Data Collaboration Group |
#LAF21 virtual apprentice fair - design and build
Northernlands 3 Planet Data 4 |
NHS X - sponsor renewal
Nothern Gas Networks - sponsor renewal National Data Strategy response |
As we grow into a scale-up organisation, we focus on 4 main areas:
Within these, we have core themes:
The rest of this review details what we do daily at ODI Leeds to support this strategy and the themes and who the team are:
Innovation is what ODI Leeds is all about. It happens all the time in our purpose built innovation space and now in a virtual setting. We have developed and created our own methods and tools to do open innovation with a purpose.
The #RadicallyOpen approach means that all the assets, conversation, and development is done in the open - we start small, have clear problems to fix, and engage as many and as diverse types of people and organisations as possible.
In we did our own innovation projects:
We helped others do it:
We host others when they are doing it.
This is at the heart of what we do best - our team of data scientists, analysts, and developers work to design and deliver some pioneering projects which impact us all. This year we worked on the following projects:
Use of the ODI Leeds workspace by ourselves, our sponsors, and the wider community is a core element of the work we do. The first 3 months of 2020 were our busiest ever - over 83 events welcoming more than 20 different sponsors and clients. The closure of this element of our business in mid-March impacted on a core element of our revenue stream and the ability to host sponsors and others to help with innovation. However, we did not down tools - we set to work to create our own bespoke software package and platform to help our sponsors and others guarantee their events and projects could continue by hosting virtual meetings, training and conferences online. With the aid of our sponsors and other funding, ODI Leeds was able to invest in AV kit, and software so that the space became a virtual broadcast studio. We hope that will see a return to being able to use our space again but in the meantime we will keep learning, adapting and doing more virtually so that when we can reopen fully we can offer flexible, affordable hybrid events.
Folk from the data community have attended our events (real and virtual) this year including:
We host and run events to innovate and share so please keep following us on Twitter, and checking our calendar to make sure you don’t miss out. We also send out event invitations and project opportunities via email, so you can add yourself to the mailing list.
ODI Leeds is #RadicallyOpen. We work in the open. All of our work is published on our website almost instantaneously.
We have a very active and engaged social media profile covering Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. It enables us to engage with an audience that covers the whole of the UK and beyond, sharing our news, project outcomes, innovation work, and more. Please do follow us and join in with our open conversations, and share your stories and priorities with us so we can share them. This social media presence is important in raising awareness and sharing info.
In 2020, live-streaming our events became even more important as physical events have not been possible this year. The ODI Leeds YouTube Channel is an essential communication channel between for the wider data and innovation community.
| Website visits: | ? |
| Tweets: | ? |
| Twitter impressions: | ? |
| New Twitter followers: | ? |
| Facebook posts: | ? |
| Facebook impressions: | ? |
| Facebook reach: | ? |
| LinkedIn impressions: | ? |
| Youtube viewing time (across all videos): | ? minutes |
| Youtube unique views: | ? |
| Total online engagement: (measured in number of times a tweet, post, link, page, etc, has been seen) | ? |
In 2020, despite challenges from Covid-19, we have recruited, retrained and restructured the ODI Leeds staff into a strong and talented team ready for 2021.
Here we are and how to get in touch:
| Name | Role | Contact |
| Paul Connell | Founder | paul.connell@odileeds.org |
| Kathryn Connell | Director | kathryn.connell@odileeds.org |
| Tom Forth | Head of Data | tom.forth@odileeds.org |
| GIles Dring | Head of Delivery | giles.dring@odileeds.org |
| Amy Evans | Communications | amy.evans@odileeds.org |
| Stuart Lowe | Data Projects | stuart.lowe@odileeds.org |
| Grace Durkan | Events and Sponsorship | grace.durkan@odileeds.org |
| Patrick Lake | Data Science Apprentice | patrick.lake@odileeds.org |
| Susanne Schmidt | Data Research and Analysis | susanne.schmidt@odileeds.org |
| Dan Billingsley | Data Projects | dan.billingsley@odileeds.org |
We get asked a lot by a wide variety of organisations to use our space, resources, and services for free. As a not for profit, non funded organisation we simply cannot operate on this basis. However, we do choose a couple of relevant projects each year to support with some of the funds raised by sponsorship and events. ODI Leeds and friends will be donating over £500 this year to charities helping ensure children don't go hungry eg. zarach.org and Food Share. We have also offered our space free to any organisations/groups working on Climate Emergency and Covid-19 projects.
As part of our sustainable ethos, we try our best to be as green as we can - recycling, re-using, using local suppliers and products, cycling, walking and using public transport for getting to work and meetings, promoting sustainable projects, running events like Planet Data, and introducing vegetarian and vegan only catering. We hope you will support us in this campaign.
Let's hope brings more hope and positivity. From ODI Leeds perspective we promise we will
Sponsors help support our projects and wider work. We welcome anyone who wants to join in and join us. If you're interested in becoming a sponsor, get in touch and find out what you can help us acheive.
Thanks again and here's to !
Very best,
Paul and the ODI Leeds team