World Bank Group opens data to all

"The World Bank Group today announced that it has thrown open the doors to its statistical databases and is challenging the global community to use the data to create new applications and solutions to help poor people in the developing world....[T]he Bank Group has worked intensively to modernize its storehouse of statistics to create data.worldbank.org....In the coming months, the World Bank will also launch an "Apps for Development" competition, challenging the developer community to create tools, applications, and "mash-ups" using World Bank data with the goal of producing better tools for understanding development. The new open data initiative coincides with the launch of the World Development Indicators (WDI) 2010, the Bank's popular statistical resource. Apart from giving open access to the WDI, with nearly 1000 indicators, the initiative also opens up the Global Development Finance, Africa Development Indicators, Global Economic Monitor, and indicators from the Doing Business Report...."