Individuals and businesses have been offered £40,000 to develop innovative new products and services using open data to support renters.

Nesta and the Open Data Institute (ODI) are offering the prize to the team with the best idea to use open data to help people get the best out of renting. This includes those both in the private rented sector as well as social tenants. Alex Hilton, Director at Generation Rent, has been appointed as the “Challenge Champion” for the Challenge.

The Open Data Challenge is one of a series of competitions to take open data and use it to develop innovative solutions to social issues. Previous challenges have been on Crime & Justice and Education.

Applications open on 24th June and close on Friday 29th August. Successful teams will then be invited to start to build and test their ideas at a creation weekend on 20th and 21st September where three teams of finalists will be chosen to win £5000 each. After further developing their ideas during an incubation phase, one finalist will be chosen to win a potential £40,000 prize. The winning project will be the one which can combine open data into products or services with a clear social impact and a sustainable ongoing model.

The challenge is being launched at HouseParty, the housing sector's first ever Unconference. HouseParty – taking place on 24th and 25th June in Manchester – is being attended by over 200 innovation-focused housing practitioners, campaigners and tenants, and the launch will contribute significantly to programme of events, workshops and seminars that focus on the ways in which open data, social enterprise and new technologies are transforming the ways in which housing will be delivered in the future.

Alex Hilton, Director of Generation Rent and Challenge Champion for the Housing Open Data Challenge, said:

“Britain’s growing population of renters – now about 40% of the population – have a range of problems homeowners rarely experience. They seldom have control over the conditions in which they live and have little choice over the quality of their landlord. They also have challenges with security of tenure, mobility and in many cases affordability.

“So far the housing market treats property as an investment when, for most people, it’s simply their home. This £40k Challenge prize aims to inspire data and housing experts to create new products and tools that help renters overcome some of the hurdles that they face. I’m really excited to see what the entrants will come up with.”

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Notes to editors

Further details are available at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/open-data-challenge-series

For more information, please contact Dan Wilson Craw on [email protected] or 07908 513 741 or Laura Scarrott at [email protected] or 020 7438 2697

Alex Hilton is available for comment on 07432 636518.

Housing Open Data Challenge

The specific Challenge Question for this Challenge is: “How can we use open data to help people get the best out of renting?”

The Housing Open Data Challenge invites teams including business, startups, social enterprises and community groups to collaborate and compete with each other to use open data to build products and services that help people make get the best out of renting, including using open data to create products and services that provide greater housing options for those renting. In addition it includes both those who are renting in the private rented sector as well as those who are renting from social landlords.

Challenge Champion

The Challenge Champion will work with the Open Data Challenge Series team to support the challenge definition process, to cultivate a community of potential participants for the challenge, and will work to raise awareness of the challenge and datasets in the sector.

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. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales with a company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE

About the ODI: 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, Limited by Guarantee company. It has secured £10 million over five years via the UK innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, $750,000 from global philanthropic investor Omidyar Network, and is working towards long-term sustainability through match funding and direct revenue.

Generation Rent (www.generationrent.org), the operating name of the National Private Tenants Organisation, is campaigning for professionally managed, secure, decent and affordable, privately rented homes in sustainable communities.

HouseParty - a two day festival of ideas and innovation in housing running from 24-25 June in central Manchester - has been organised by HACT and the Social Change Agency.    Participants, drawn from across the social housing sector and beyond, will be participating in two days of workshops, events, seminars and launches focused on the role of new technology, social media, social enterprise and open data in transforming they ways in which they engage with residents and manage their businesses.  For more information contact [email protected] @HseParty www.houseparty2014.org