Todd Akers: Open Data Initiatives Fuel Public, Private Sector Innovation

Todd Akers, vice president for public sector at Acquia, has said proper execution of open data initiatives fuel “innovation across both the public and private sector.”

Akers wrote in an opinion piece for Carahsoft published Thursday that a new survey of federal leaders meant to assess the progress of the Digital Government Strategy program has revealed that more than half of respondents reported a progress on open data initiatives at their agency.

Commissioned by Acquia and conducted by the Government Business Council, the survey uncovers the challenges federal agencies face in their efforts to capture digital opportunities, according to Akers.

“At the core of the Digital Government Strategy is making government services and information more readily accessible and user friendly to a population that lives and works on tablets and smartphones,” he wrote.

“It’s also about raising the bar on how our government makes the vast amount of data it collects publicly available,” Akers added.

He also noted that “security and privacy remain a top priority” based on the survey, with nearly 90 percent of respondents saying their agency considers security as the main concern when migrating to a new technology.