After two years of hard work, the time has come: the digital infrastructure that forms the basis for a smart and sustainable city life is a fact. On Wednesday 15 January, we celebrated the launch of the Open Urban Platform (OUP) Rotterdam together with more than 100 enthusiastic interested parties and partners.
With this platform we bring data together, create new opportunities and work together as a city and organizations on solutions for today's social challenges. During the launch this was beautifully illustrated with a use case on the climate challenge in the context of Rotterdams Weerwoord, which underlined the importance of collaboration and innovation.
Collaboration is the key
The importance of the OUP was emphasized by both government and commercial parties. Peter den Held, CIO of the municipality of Rotterdam indicated that the platform must come to life with the people of Rotterdam and how powerful visualizations can help with that.
In addition, the establishment of a Governance Board was announced, chaired by Pieter van Klaveren. This board plays a crucial role in ensuring a platform where data and applications are shared in a responsible, secure and transparent manner. This underlines the importance of trust within the ecosystem.
And to top it all off, no fewer than 11 parties have signed the covenant, demonstrating their commitment and ambition to work together to build a future-proof city.
The call: get to work
We have laid the foundation, but now the real work begins. The OUP must make it possible to bring data together smoothly to enable digitalization of the city, with the city and for the city, in line with the wishes and conditions of the city. With the OUP, companies and specialists can link their applications, register data and create new value. However, the OUP Rotterdam is not only for specialists: it is the platform of the Rotterdammer, the citizen, the student, the civil servant and the entrepreneur. Hogeschool Rotterdam is already setting a good example: this semester the school will start by having students work on the OUP under supervision.
The OUP is also an invitation – not only for Rotterdammers, but also for other cities, data providers and app developers in the Netherlands and beyond. Together we can strengthen the OUP with new data and applications that are valuable for all cities.