Authors: Paulina Behluli and Rodolphe Doité
Join a new generation of leaders shaping how data serves cities and regions. The Data Stewards Bootcamp offers hands-on training in responsible and strategic data stewardship, helping cities and regions unlock data’s full potential for the public good. Apply today!
Data has the potential to positively transform societies. When responsibly used and governed, it can drive informed decisions, enhance service delivery, and strengthen advocacy efforts. Yet, despite a growing awareness of data’s value, many societies continue to face challenges in adopting open data practices and fostering meaningful data collaboration. Public authorities, especially at the local level, are in the frontline when it comes to all the pressing challenges we face, ranging from climate change, fast growth coupled with pressing social needs, overgrowing tourism and more. To unlock the full potential of data for the common good, we must rethink both how data is used and who is responsible for its stewardship. This means shifting the focus from purely technical roles to strategic, cross-sector collaboration that enables the use and reuse of data as a powerful asset for social impact.
In response to these challenges, The Data Tank and FARI are launching the first-ever Data Stewards Bootcamp in Brussels. The bootcamp focuses on local and regional digital ecosystems by emphasising the role of responsible data governance for cities and regions in Europe. We organise the bootcamp as a one-week intensive course led by Stefaan Verhulst (Co-founder of GovLab and The Data Tank) with the involvement of FARI experts and guest lecturers. Bootcamp participants will also have the opportunity to engage with different data leaders across the private, and nonprofit sectors via guided field visits as part of the program. We are firm believers in making learning fun and the bootcamp includes many social elements that aim to unlock exactly that; all while networking with the peers from the group. Secure your spot with a 20% discount to public and non-profit sector representatives.
Why Cities and Regions ?
Data governance is an integrated ecosystem approach, where multiple stakeholders play a role to create, collect, use, reuse and share data. Such governance is deeply rooted in local and regional contexts. However, if larger cities can take the leading role in organising their stakeholders to build on their data ecosystem, smaller municipalities, often in rural contexts, can benefit from the role of metropolitan regions, and regions themselves, to support their digital transformation journey.
With this bootcamp, we want to focus on data governance which relies on the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, to ensure local understanding and value creation. And our collaboration with public authorities has taught us that local and regional governments can have a leading role as facilitators - and stewards - in mobilising various stakeholders, including industry, research institutions, civil society, for using data for the common good.
Imagine This: It’s 2040 and Brussels has exponentially improved their public service delivery, becoming one of the first EU cities to reduce net emissions by 90%, and the citizens enjoy an inter-connected city free of mobility challenges.
This vision might seem realistic for some, or too idealistic for others. In any case, we believe that responsible data governance and stewardship is indispensable to make progress happen.
What will you learn?
Similar to other bootcamps that The Data Tank and The GovLab organise, the program is designed around the Data Stewards Canvas, a step-by-step tool to help organisations develop a data reuse strategy. It combines structured learning with real-world applications, featuring guest lectures and site visits that highlight innovative data reuse for the societal public benefit. The Data Stewards Canvas has recently been updated for relevance amidst the increasing AI developments. The Canvas now covers sections on open data and genAI, including how to steward AI-ready data, and presents a myriad of AI use cases. In addition, the collaboration with partners from FARI adds another important aspect to the learnings, a deep dive into the smart regions and local initiatives, utilising the strong connection in Brussels Capital Region ecosystem.
Learning structure: The bootcamp is organised as a five-day intensive course taking place in Brussels, Belgium. The five days feature the following topics:
- 1. “Setting the stage for Data Stewardship” and “Introduction to Data Stewardship, formulating the demand for Data”
- 2. “Making the value proposition”
- 3. “Understanding and describing Data supply, matching demand and supply (operational, governance, and technical elements)”
- 4. “Moving from insight to decision intelligence”
- 5. “Measuring Impact for Data-driven initiatives”.
Afternoons will feature visits to leading data and innovation institutions active in Brussels, offering participants a firsthand look at data stewardship in the region's ecosystem. Interactive workshops will also be an important element of the bootcamp.
Date & Timing: The course takes place in Brussels on February 2025 (w/c February 2nd). Each session starts at 9:00 AM (CET) and will include lectures in the morning, followed by field visits in the afternoon, with a one-hour lunch break.
Course assignment:
By the end of the program, participants will apply their learning by writing a data reuse assignment tailored to their respective organisations, ensuring direct application to their professional contexts. But what is a data reuse strategy to begin with? A data reuse strategy is a detailed strategy on data internal and external flows to maximize efforts for the public good.
This assignment is expected to be developed throughout the course, where course facilitators will act as mentors and provide their support. The data reuse assignment will be presented in dedicated pitch-sessions that will be organized by course organizers. The pitch-sessions take place online.
Course fee:
- The full course fee is €3000.00, which includes:
- - Access to all course sessions (and panel discussions) and materials during five days
- - Participation in live discussions and Q&A sessions
- - A certificate of completion
- - Access to two alumni groups (FARI & TDT) that remain active in engagement with special sessions organized exclusively for the alumni
- - Opportunity to develop a data reuse strategy that can be used for the respective organisations utilizing many toolkits and frameworks made available via the course.
We offer a 20% discount to all participants from public administration and civil society organizations, reflecting our commitment to supporting learning in the public interest.
Application deadline:
November 19, 2025
Apply NOW: https://7gkuoz6cecj.typeform.com/to/PfjsqHzw?typeform-source=www.datatank.org
Who should Apply?
The bootcamp is an executive learning program geared towards professionals from Belgium (and international) working across the public, private, and civil society sectors using data and AI for the common good.
Some of the potential profiles include: Smart City Experts, Data Governance Leads, Senior Data Managers, Data Scientists, Open Data Officer, GIS / Spatial Data Specialist, Principal Consultant in Smart City, Chief Data Officers, Data Privacy Officers, Senior Program/Project Managers for Data and/or AI for Good Projects, and Digital Transformation managers.
If you are interested in joining a group of executive leaders working at the intersection of data and smart regions, all while growing your network and learning from some of the best pioneers in the space, then this bootcamp is for you.
*The course has a limited number of seats, accommodating maximum 20 participants.
What do the alumni say?
The bootcamp was a unique experience to focus on the strategic value of data stewardship processes for an organisation. It stimulated my critical and creative thinking, allowing me to re-boost some of my organisation's internal processes and projects with new energy. Stefania Paolazzi, Municipality of Bologna
The course offered a great opportunity to dive deeper into the role of data stewards and showed their importance. Furthermore, I benefit from the exchange within the group and the experience of the speakers. Daniela Koller, Office of Data and Statistics at Thurgau Canton in Switzerland
The course was amazing - up-to-date content, amazing insights and great lecturers throughout. I really learned a lot and would recommend it to everyone, including those who are experienced with data management topics. Trust me - I'm a Data Steward :-) Helena Bakic, Bertlesmann Stiftung
“This course was an incredible opportunity to learn from experienced peers, receive mentorship from academic and industry experts, and set strategy for a post-pandemic world, where public institutions need to set priorities with data and answer questions with data. It has been an honor to be a part of this inaugural cohort of Data Stewards, and I look forward to contribute to our growing community!” Christine Keung, Chief Data Officer, Mayor’s Office on Technology and Innovation, City of San Jose
