How the Open Data Movement Laid the Foundation for the AI Boom

What began as a movement for transparency, scientific collaboration and knowledge sharing has become a foundational layer of today’s data-driven and AI-enabled economy. Open data and open government data advanced the view that public information is a national asset that should be accessible to citizens, innovators, researchers and entrepreneurs. Its objectives included improving transparency, fighting…

Digital Technologies Are Temporal; Data Is Enduring

Agriculture has long been viewed as a fertile ground for technological innovation. Over the years, governments, donors, development agencies, and private companies have invested heavily in ICT-enabled solutions to address persistent challenges such as low productivity, limited market access, climate risks, financial exclusion, and weak extension services.  Drawing on my work in ICT4D, D4D, D4Ag,…

Lack of data in a time of data overload – Agriculture

For the past two decades, I have worked on e-Agriculture, ICTs for Agriculture and Digital Agriculture as a practitioner, researcher, development officer, and now a policy adviser. My conclusion is that, for digital solutions and services to be sustained, scaled and then accelerate smallholder agriculture transformation, we need a better approach to data management at…