Open Data Science Symposium in a Nutshell | Data Science at NIH

"On December 1, 2016, the NIH Office of the Associate Director for Data Science hosted the Open Data Science Symposium, a public symposium exploring how Open Data and Open Science are transforming biomedical research.

This event, which was the first of its kind for the Big Data to Knowledge Initiative (BD2K), demonstrated a growing interest among diverse stakeholders and an understanding of how scientific open principles and open methods are transforming every aspect of the biomedical research enterprise. As Dr. Harold Varmus (former NIH and NCI Director) stated, '…5, 10, 15 years ago, it would be inconceivable to see people flock to a meeting like this.' Indeed, as an estimated 1,200 people attended the event via on-site and online participation. The audience included a broad range of stakeholders from an estimated 18 countries, including NIH program officers and staff; BD2K grantees; members of the research community from government agencies, industry, and medical foundations and societies; media; citizen scientists; and open data advocates. Viewers actively tweeted throughout the day using hashtag #BD2KOpenSciExit Link Disclaimer, which was one of the leading Twitter trends several times during the day. There were 1,683 Twitter posts about the meeting using this hashtag alone, reaching an estimated 1,233,271 viewers across the world."