Trento pilot: Open Data HackaBot 2018

The main action of the URBAN INNO Trento pilot is to develop and test participatory process to enable innovation in the public administration and government in collaboration with local associations and citizens, in coordination with local stakeholders.

‘Open Data Hackabot Trentino 2018’ (#ODHB2018) is the title of the new hackathon organised by the Autonomous Province of Trento in partnership with several local stakeholders and local companies that is aiming to redefine how the Public Administration (PA) could collaborate with citizens and business to create real value from public data available and from easy-of-use technologies as are chatbots. The event will be held on 2^nd and 3^rd of March 2018, in Trento (IT).

The hackathon will a final step of a local engagement activity started in end of 2017, that has been started with a first public event made at 30 January 2018 during the Trentino Sviluppo’s Innovation Academy 2018, where, after a basic introduction to the technologies involved (opendata and chatbots), several real example of useful chatbot were showcased in front of more than 80 excited participants.

The hackathon has two objectives. The first is strongly connected with the INTERREG CE URBAN INNO project objective, to empower citizens and civil society with participatory instruments and experiences, creating a wider possibility to be part of the innovation process, to co-create with the PA and the stakeholders where and how it is possible to innovate, create new services and business with the direct contribution of the final users in the process.  The second, is as well connected with the INTERREG EUROPE OSIRIS project objective, in order to address local stakeholders (mainly start-ups, companies, research and public administration) and to co-create a local action plan aimed at boosting a data driven economy in Trentino.

The value of using chatbot technology is evident. A chatbot is ‘a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. Such programs are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner’ (source: Wikipedia) and so it could enable the establishment of a more natural dialogue with the citizen, from different target group.

These computer programs use messaging services (Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and others) as simple interfaces with users/citizens to execute specific number of tasks functional for providing them with not only with simple information but also valuable services (booking, locations, digital processes), enabling the implementation of a small but real Digital Assistant. This is why chatbots have been starting to substitute the development of mobile apps, thanks to their flexibility and integrability. Beside this, this kind of digital technology could be gain important support from the increasing availability and exploit the value of open data and more in general of the data produced by the PA.

The ‘Open Data Hackabot Trentino 2018’, inspired to the Sprint Ideas Workshop, typically used inside large companies to develop new ideas, is trying to create a new collaboration model inside the quadruple helix, and hopefully to become a ‘almost normal’ way for the PA to work with citizens and businesses.

The #ODHB2018 is supported by URBAN INNO through the involvement of the Informatica Trentina staff. Informatica Trentina,  beside to help organization, communication and tutorship of the event, will test the effectiveness of hackathon as a methodology to stimulate bottom-up engagement and innovation in the urban area, making it available for the other URBAN INNO partners as a part of the URBAN INNO Participatory Toolbox.  

More info: https://www.odhb2018.net