Open Data Institute (ODI), an organization that is building a strong, fair and sustainable data economy by helping governments and businesses around the world get data to people who need it, is injecting innovation in ASEAN with its comprehensive accelerator program for startups, which ODI aims to spur innovation and close socio-economic challenges in the ASEAN region.

The program known as ASEAN Data Startup Accelerator (ADSA) was developed to inspire breakthrough thinking among startups that will result in providing solutions to solve societal problems in developing countries in ASEAN. The good news is – ADSA is now accepting entries from regional startups for its second cohort.

“In this day and age of technology, it takes more than just putting all the data and information out there in the world. We strive to cultivate the culture of openness and transparency. One of the ways to demonstrate the importance and usefulness of open data when solving problems across various sectors is to create a platform to connect, equip and inspire startups, entrepreneurs and innovators around the world to innovate with data. Ultimately, what we want to achieve is to close societal gaps through innovation, with the help of open data,” commented the Startup Manager of Open Data Institute, Divakar Subramaniam.

ADSA’s second cohort is a six-month program that will be held in Kuala Lumpur within the ASEAN Data Analytics Exchange (ADAX), that acts as an ecosystem for data-driven businesses to showcase latest Big Data Analytics (BDA) technologies, pilot use cases for ASEAN region as well as provide a co-working location for BDA talent, startups and accelerators.

A collaborative effort between Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and ODI, ADSA was created to help data-driven startups develop their business skills, improve essential data skills and expand their network reach.

Divakar believes that ADSA will help startups to better understand the benefits of open data and how it helps to bridge information gaps across various industries such as agriculture, fintech and insurtech which allows businesses to share best practices that helps improve productivity.

“We need to make sure that open data is easily accessible and it is our responsibility to encourage startups to use readily-available data such as weather reports, traffic reports, hot spots for diseases and price of essential goods to come up with innovative solutions. Our end goal is to increase the innovative capacity within this region, spurred by the appropriate combination of knowledge, technological skills, collaborative mindset and conducive policies that support entrepreneurship and innovation,” he further commented.

Currently, there are eight startups under ADSA’s first cohort, from various ASEAN countries including Malaysia (Wrzit, CropBASE, BTI, Katsana), Philippines (Lorax AI), Indonesia (CityPlan, Tune Map) & Singapore (Urbanetic).The success of ADSA was proven when Tune Map, an Indonesian-based startup, took overall second spot in the ‘United Nations Challenge: Big Ideas Competition for Sustainable Cities and Urban Communities’. The competition recognized startups with innovative ideas to help enhance living quality and address societal concerns, with the use of big, open or crowdsourced data. Designed to map accessible pedestrian routes for the visually impaired in Bandung, West Java, Tune Map aims to get citizens to report sidewalks that are unsafe for the visually impaired, making lives easier for the blind and helping local authorities prioritize road and public safety works.

“The impact of open data culture in the ASEAN region is apparent, as it has led to groundbreaking innovation in various industries. At ODI, we are constantly finding new ways to encourage and assist business entrepreneurs and startups to make full use of all the available data in order to create world-class innovation that can solve many of the problems that are faced by the public in ASEAN region,” commented Divakar.

Interested start-ups are encouraged to apply for the next cohort program set to take place in October this year. For more information, visit https://www.aseandatastartupaccelerator.com/ and follow us on MYADSA page
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For more information, please feel free to contact:
Shaheera Fauzi (Public Relations Consultant)
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About Open Data Institute
The Open Data Institute (ODI) was co-founded by the inventor of World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and AI expert Sir Nigel Shadbolt to address today’s global challenges using the web of data. The ODI is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan company that brings together commercial and non-commercial organizations and governments to help identify and address how the web of data will impact their businesses and sectors.

The ODI runs the ASEAN Data Startup Accelerator (ADSA), building on their open data expertise and experience running various accelerator programs in Europe

For more information, kindly visit https://theodi.org/

About ASEAN Data Startup Accelerator
The ASEAN Data Startup Accelerator (ADSA) is an accelerator for data driven startups in the ASEAN region. ADSA is run by the Open Data Institute (ODI) in partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Cohorts of ADSA startups follow a six-month program based at the ASEAN Data Analytics eXchange (ADAX) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with activities across ASEAN and in ODI's headquarters in London, UK.