The Open Data Institute (ODI) of UK recognized two Software Engineering Competence Center (SECC) R&D engineers as ODI Registered Trainers in August. ODI Registered Trainer is a quality mark for trainers who have been assessed by ODI to train others on Open Data.
SECC acquired, in May, the membership of the Open Data Institute (ODI) Node Network as Cairo Node, becoming the first on the African level and the second on the Arab level to acquire this membership.
SECC went through several accreditation phases at the Open Data Institute including overview and business history and the center’s vision and business plan for open data. The final phase comprised discussing a presentation on SECC vision and performance indicators by international experts in open data fields. The open data concept relies on making non-confidential data accessible to all for their use and dissemination without minimal restriction while ensuring its accuracy and credibility.
ITIDA VP and SECC Chairman Dr Hossam Osman has said that Open Data has become one of the most prominent modern trends worldwide. Promoting it in Egypt will reflect positively upon scientific research and innovation to develop products and design services in many fields such as education, transport and health. This will, in turn, enhance opportunities of entrepreneurship, thereby promoting the country’s economic growth and competitiveness.
ODI is an independent non-profit organization based in London, United Kingdom. It was established by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the web inventor and W3C network director. The institute aims to develop the open data culture worldwide to create economic, environmental and social values; spread knowledge; support innovation; and strengthen transparency. To achieve its goals, the Institute has a network of over 20 centers in different countries including the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Sweden, Russia, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
SECC was established in 2001 to support and develop software and IT services industry in Egypt. The center provides a number of consultancies, evaluation, accreditation and training services and promotes the use of measuring standards for the industry in order to make companies able to understand new technologies and export their products to regional and global markets.
