ODI Leeds
Open Innovations (formerly ODI Leeds) is a UK not-for-profit that builds open-source data visualisation tools, hex maps, and dashboards for local government, corporate sponsors, and event clients, funded via annual sponsorships, commissioned projects, and venue hire.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersHarrogate, United Kingdom
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ODI Leeds does
Open Innovations Ltd (formerly ODI Leeds) is a UK not-for-profit, independent organisation founded in November 2013 and registered in England (company number 09417733). Operating UK-wide from Leeds, the organisation builds open-source data tools, visualisations, and dashboards that it publishes freely on its website and GitHub under CC-BY-4.0 and MIT licences. Core products include hex-cartogram maps and HexJSON tooling for equal-weight UK geography visualisation, Constituency Dashboards covering energy, environment, health, society, and transport, the Bus Open Data Service archive storing daily timetables and live bus locations, the National Data Library initiative, plus a toolbox of supporting utilities (CSV Cleaner, Find My Area, DFES Comparison Tool, Emission Factors Catalogue, GeoJSON optimisers, and the Bin App for four UK local authorities). Underlying technology is web-based: JavaScript libraries, browser-side processing for privacy preservation, and proprietary compact GeoJSON formats. Revenue is generated through three streams: annual sponsor subscriptions providing workspace access and innovation consultancy (Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Northern Powergrid, Mohn Westlake Foundation among 26 lifetime sponsors), commissioned client data projects delivered openly so outputs benefit the wider community, and venue hire of event spaces at the former Munro House Leeds workspace (now closed). Lifetime impact includes £4.4 million in revenue, 1,379 events reaching 42,000 attendees, 166 data projects, 443 blog posts, and 3.7 million website visits. The company employs approximately eleven staff and is led by Founder Paul Connell and Director Kathryn Connell.
In April 2026, the organisation announced it will not commence any new work from May 2026 and will be archived, with all existing tools, data, blogs, and repositories remaining publicly accessible. The company previously rebranded from ODI Leeds to Open Innovations in 2021 after separating from The ODI network, and exited its Munro House workspace in March 2024 to operate as 'Open Innovations On Tour'.
ODI Leeds firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ODI Leeds
- Legal name
- Open Innovations Ltd
- Website
- https://odileeds.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Open Innovations (formerly ODI Leeds) is a UK not-for-profit that builds open-source data visualisation tools, hex maps, and dashboards for local government, corporate sponsors, and event clients, funded via annual sponsorships, commissioned projects, and venue hire.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ODI Leeds industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Data Innovation Services
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Open-Source & Developer Communities (BPAMABAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Developer & Open-Source Communities (MPACAJAK), OER Authoring, Remixing & Publishing Tools/Platforms (EDAGAJAM), Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG)
Keywords
Where ODI Leeds is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Harrogate
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
ODI Leeds business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Sponsor Support: Annual sponsor contributions provide funding that supports maintenance and development of assets including workspace, website, toolbox, mailbox help, and mission-led projects. Sponsors receive discounted rates on workspace usage and access to Open Innovations knowledge, resources, and team.
- Venue Hire: Direct revenue from hiring out event spaces including The Bothy, The Huddle, The Gather, The Common, and the Whole Space. Rates range from £150 to £1000+VAT for half-day bookings.
- Data Partnerships and Projects: Commissioned work by clients/partners on specific data projects or programmes. Work is delivered openly so developments can be shared and benefit others. Revenue from data partnerships and project delivery.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | The Bothy - small meeting space |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | The Huddle - private boardroom |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | The Gather - large events space |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | The Common - training space |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | The Whole Space - full venue hire |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels9 records
ODI Leeds product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ODI Leeds / Open Innovations is an independent not-for-profit that develops and publishes an open-source toolbox of data visualisation and analysis tools (Hex Maps, Constituency Dashboards, Bus Open Data Archive, National Data Library, and supporting utilities), delivers commissioned data innovation projects to government, corporate, and charity clients, and operates physical event-space hire from its Leeds workspace under The Gather, The Bothy, The Common, and The Huddle brands.
Product overview
Open Innovations (formerly ODI Leeds) is a not-for-profit organization offering an open-source toolbox of data visualization and analysis tools rather than a unified commercial product. The core offerings include Hex Maps/HexJSON tools for equal-weight geographic visualization of UK constituencies, the Constituency Dashboards for exploring local data across multiple themes (energy, environment, health, society, transport), the Bus Open Data Archive for preserving transit data, and the National Data Library initiative. Supporting tools include CSV Editor/CSVCleaner, Find My Area (privacy-preserving location tool), Warm Spaces Finder, DFES Comparison Tool, Emission Factors Catalogue, Bin Apps for multiple councils, Council Website Emissions measurement, Northern Powergrid DFES Visualizations, Diversity Dashboard, Gender Pay Gap Tool, Housing Data Explorer, and various geographic data tools (CSV to GeoJSON, GeoJSON Minify, Geography Code Adder). The organization also offers physical event space rental through The Gather, The Bothy, The Common, and The Huddle at their Leeds workspace. All tools are published openly under CC-BY-4.0 or MIT licenses and are free for anyone to use, share, and learn from.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- #RadicallyOpen: The organization's mission hashtag representing their commitment to open data that anyone can access, use and share.
- #PlanetData
- #OpenDataSavesLives
- #KillAllReports
- Northernlands
- Warm Spaces
- The Bin App
Products and services
- Hex Maps / HexJSON Tools Interactive suite of tools for building and viewing hex cartograms of UK geographies including constituencies, wards and local authorities. Hex maps assign equal visual weight to each area regardless of geographic size, making them ideal for election results and comparative data visualisation. Targeted at analysts, journalists, researchers and anyone needing fair geographic visualisation of UK data.
- Constituency Dashboards A dashboard for every UK parliamentary constituency covering topics including energy, environment, health, society and transport, sourced from data on the hex maps site. Targets the public, journalists and policy researchers seeking a single view of constituency-level indicators.
- Bus Open Data Archive A prototype archive of Bus Open Data Service (BODS) data, storing daily bus timetables and live bus locations as GTFS-RT and SIRI-VM files captured every 30 seconds. Targets transport researchers, local authorities and analysts needing long-term preservation of UK bus open data.
- National Data Library An initiative to build a National Data Library preserving important UK datasets for long-term access and research. Targets researchers, civil society, public sector bodies and the wider public needing curated, durable access to UK open datasets.
- CSV Editor / CSVCleaner A web-based tool for editing CSV files and cleaning up common issues including date formats and values. Targets data analysts and researchers who need quick, in-browser CSV wrangling.
- Find My Area A simple JavaScript tool to find which UK area a user is in based on GPS location or provided coordinates, preserving privacy by keeping location processing in the browser without sending data to external services. Targets journalists, analysts and developers needing privacy-first UK area lookup.
- Warm Spaces Finder A simple search engine indexing warm space directories across the UK, designed to minimise bandwidth use and respect user privacy. Targets members of the public seeking warm community spaces during cold weather.
- DFES Comparison Tool A tool to compare future energy scenario data (FES/DFES) from different scenarios, allowing users to upload CSV files and visualise comparisons on a dashboard. Targets energy analysts, planners and policy stakeholders needing to compare forecast scenarios.
- Emission Factors Catalogue A centralised resource putting up-to-date CO2 emissions factors in one place for reference and calculation. Targets sustainability professionals, analysts and organisations reporting emissions.
- Bin App (Leeds, Rotherham, Luton, Fenland) Mobile apps for iOS and Android providing bin collection reminders and recycling advice to residents, using open data from local authorities across Leeds, Rotherham, Luton and Fenland. Targets residents of participating councils needing bin collection reminders.
- Northern Powergrid DFES Visualisations Interactive visualisations of Northern Powergrid's potential future energy scenarios (DFES), updated annually, allowing exploration of predictions for electric vehicles, power generation and other parameters until 2050. Targets the public, policy stakeholders and energy sector analysts.
- Event Spaces Hire (The Gather, The Bothy, The Common, The Huddle, Whole Space) Physical event spaces available for hire at the Leeds workspace, comprising The Gather (large events space, c.100sqm, 90-person), The Bothy (16-person meeting room), The Common (36-person training room), The Huddle (24-person boardroom) and the Whole Space option, each equipped with HD TV screens, AV, wifi and (where applicable) live-streaming. Targets event organisers, training providers, community groups and corporate teams needing well-equipped central Leeds venues.
- Sponsor Network Membership Annual sponsor agreements under which organisations contribute yearly in return for access to Open Innovations' team, knowledge resources, events and innovation consultancy, alongside discounted workspace usage and engagement on mission-led projects. Targets companies, public bodies and foundations seeking a credible open-innovation partnership.
- Commissioned Data Innovation Projects Specific data projects commissioned by clients and partners covering visualisations, analysis, dashboards and data strategy work, delivered openly under the #RadicallyOpen ethos so that developments can be shared and benefit the wider community. Targets local and regional government, corporate sponsors, charities and non-profits.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3.7 million people reached via website over lifetime
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use ODI Leeds
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
ODI Leeds technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
ODI Leeds partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Leeds City CouncilcoreLong-term sponsor and partner supporting open data initiatives from Leeds. One of the founding supporters from 2013-14. Helped establish ODI Leeds and springboard it into success.
- West Yorkshire Combined AuthoritycoreSponsor providing support for regional data and innovation initiatives across West Yorkshire.
- Northern PowergridcoreElectricity distribution company sponsor. Commissioned multiple DFES (Distribution Future Energy Scenarios) visualisation projects including 2024, 2025, and 2026 DFES tools and comparison tools.
- Calderdale CouncilminorSponsor supporting data collaboration projects including Calderdale Data Works.
- TPX ImpactminorSponsor supporting Open Innovations work and mission-led projects.
- The ODI (Open Data Institute)minorEarly supporter from 2013 onwards. ODI Leeds was a pioneering independent node of the ODI network for 7 formative years before becoming totally independent as Open Innovations in 2021.
- Youth Futures FoundationcoreCommissioned to build dashboards and microsites to showcase employment data for young people from marginalised backgrounds. Partnership included data gap mapping, rapid surveys, and labour force survey visualisation.
- Leeds Digital FestivalcoreData partnership to deliver innovative data solutions enhancing attendee, speaker, and sponsor experience. Includes automated sponsor reporting and data-driven reviews.
- Icebreaker OnecorePartner on Project Cygnus - EIT-Climate-KIC funded initiative for UK & Ireland supporting economic recovery while accelerating net-zero goals. Also partnered on Open Energy and SERI projects.
- University of Edinburgh (Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence)minorPartner in Project Cygnus consortium bringing academic expertise to the initiative.
- University College DublinminorPartner in Project Cygnus consortium as part of EIT Climate-KIC initiative.
Scale indicators17 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ODI Leeds competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ODI Leeds social profiles
Digital presenceODI Leeds financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ODI Leeds leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
ODI Leeds funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ODI Leeds M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ODI Leeds
What does ODI Leeds do?
ODI Leeds / Open Innovations is an independent not-for-profit that develops and publishes an open-source toolbox of data visualisation and analysis tools (Hex Maps, Constituency Dashboards, Bus Open Data Archive, National Data Library, and supporting utilities), delivers commissioned data innovation projects to government, corporate, and charity clients, and operates physical event-space hire from its Leeds workspace under The Gather, The Bothy, The Common, and The Huddle brands.
Is ODI Leeds a public or private company?
ODI Leeds is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ODI Leeds founded?
ODI Leeds was founded in 2013.
Where is ODI Leeds based?
ODI Leeds is headquartered in Harrogate, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does ODI Leeds make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Sponsor Support is the primary driver. The others are venue Hire and data Partnerships and Projects.
Does ODI Leeds have an API?
No public API is recorded for ODI Leeds.
What industry is ODI Leeds in?
ODI Leeds's product category is Open Data Innovation Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMABAM, Open-Source & Developer Communities, with a secondary code of MPACAJAK, Developer & Open-Source Communities. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7370.