• Nesta and ODI launch competition to generate new tools for the jobs market
• £50,000 prize for winning product that uses open data

A competition, launched today, is calling for new product or service ideas that use open data to help people get better jobs or create new ones.

The Jobs Open Data Challenge, run by Nesta and the Open Data Institute (ODI), is offering £50,000 to startups, established businesses, social enterprises community groups or informed members of the public that develop the best new tool from publically available employment data. The Challenge is one in a series of seven challenges run by Nesta and the ODI to create new products and services that use open data.

Existing employment datasets include LMI For All, an online portal that lists high quality, reliable labour market information with the aim of informing career decisions, and information from Company’s House, which lists information about businesses such as the number of employees they have and operating sector. Open data relating to the jobs sector is already used by many websites and mobile apps including Career Advisor which allows users to compare job locations, career path and skill level.

To be in the running to win the prize, entrants are asked to respond to the specific challenge question in their product design: How can we use open data to help people get better jobs or create new jobs? Ideas submitted could include those which:

• help people find and apply for jobs or start their own businesses
• enable career progression or improve working conditions
• help to make the labour market function better

Applications close on 30th March with three finalists chosen at a Creation Weekend on 25th and 26th April when entrants will present their ideas to a panel of industry judges. The finalists will receive £5,000 and a package of support to help develop their product with the overall winner announced in July.

For interested applicants, the Challenge is hosting a meetup at Google Campus in London on  February 25th where attendees can find out about the application process and meet potential collaborators. To register for the event, find out more information about the Challenge, and download open data sets within the jobs space visit: http://www.nesta.org.uk/jobs-open-data-challenge.

Briony Phillips, programme manager for the Open Data Challenge Series, comments: “With 38 million people of working age in the UK, and that figure on the rise, we believe that there is much that open data could offer to help employees, job seekers and government to make better informed decisions about the market.”

-ENDS-

For all media enquiries please contact Laura Scarrott in Nesta’s press office: [email protected] / 0207 438 2697

Jobs Open Data Challenge and Open Data Challenge Series

The Jobs Open Data Challenge forms part of the Open Data Challenge Series which is led by Nesta and the Open Data Institute (ODI). The specific challenge that entrants should seek to solve is: How can we use open data to help people get better jobs or create new jobs?

The Jobs Open Data Challenge invites teams including business, start-ups, social enterprises and community groups to collaborate and compete with each other to use open data to build products and services that:

• help people find and apply for jobs or start their own businesses
• enable career progression or improve working conditions
• help to make the labour market function better

For more information on the Open Data Challenge Series which is funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills visit: http://www.nesta.org.uk/open-data-challenge-series

About Nesta: (www.nesta.org.uk) is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery.

About the ODI: http://www.theodi.org

The Open Data Institute catalyses the evolution of open data culture to create economic, environmental, and social value. It unlocks supply, generates demand, creates and disseminates knowledge to address local and global issues. Founded by Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt and Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the ODI is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan company.