Population Data BC and the Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Citizens' Services are delighted to announce the launch of the Data Innovation Program for academic researchers.
The Data Innovation Program (DI Program) provides access to cross-sector data from multiple provincial ministries and organizations and is now open to support academic research projects. With over 20 years of experience in providing data access to Canadian researchers, Population Data BC (PopData) is a partner in the DI Program, providing services related to data linkage, project and data management, and a secure virtual research environment.
The provincial government’s programs and services span all aspects of life for the population of BC. This is reflected in the broad range of data now available for academic research projects to better understand population-level trends and complex issues in the province.
Categories of data currently available include:
- Demographics
- Education
- Health
- Social
- Work and Income
Many of these data sets have never before been available to academic researchers. Future additions will include environmental and transportation data.
“These data move British Columbia to the forefront of analysis in the world. The linkage of administrative data from different parts of the government – income assistance, education, health – is impressive and opens up opportunities for policy related research that have never existed in Canada. And the best part of it is that the interface with the data is as good as it gets. Researchers can access the data through a remote encryption link, with support from a helpful and knowledgeable support team.”
Professor David Green, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia
Academic access to the DI Program is the culmination of four years’ work, and follows a pilot project allowing government analysts to access these data. PopData has linked and supported use of DI Program data for government projects looking at issues such as:
- Pedestrian and cyclist safety.
- Climate preparedness.
- Youth mental health care.
- Preventing and reducing homelessness.
- Improving health outcomes through primary care provision.
- Basic income.
For further information about the DI Progam, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/about-data-management/data-innovation-program
For further information on data available through PopData, visit: https://www.popdata.bc.ca/data
Want to learn more?
We will be holding a free webinar: An Introduction to the Data Innovation Program for Academic Researchers on Wednesday July 21st from 1pm to 2pm.
