On March 28, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja highlighted Odisha’s efforts to strengthen its data ecosystem during the ‘Unlocking the Power of Data Exchange for Smart Governance’ forum at Lok Seva Bhavan. Ahuja underscored the state’s focus on improving data accessibility, interoperability, and supporting evidence-based decisions. He also mentioned the state’scy, designed to fur upcoming Data Polither these goals.
The forum was organized by the Data, Policy, and Innovation Centre (DPIC), a five-year partnership between the Odisha government and the University of Chicago Trust (UCT). The event brought together prominent experts to discuss strategies for enhancing governance through better data exchange. Key speakers included Inder Gopal, Chairman of the Centre for Data for Public Good (CDPG), who discussed scalable open-source data platforms. A team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) introduced the ‘Open-Source Data Exchange Platform,’ a tool already in use through collaborations with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the Government of Telangana.
Vishal Kumar Dev, Principal Secretary of the Electronics and Information Technology (E&IT) department, shared the state’s initiatives to use advanced data science tools for evidence-driven governance. The forum was a significant step towards improving data-driven decision-making and policy implementation in Odisha.