In a follow-up to our initial coverage of the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative, challenging developers to submit apps addressing one of its 8 MDGs, we now reveal the results of this international contest. There were 107 final submissions that became eligible for final voting today, including 20 desktop, 8 mobile and around 77 web based app. $45,000 in prizes and financial support as well as honorable mentions.  From the blog:

“The apps use a wide variety of World Bank data, including information about health, the environment, children out of school, agricultural land data, gender statistics, population growth, and mortality rate, among other datasets.”

The datasets were taken from the World Bank Data Catalog, which was opened to the public when the initiative was first announced, and even large tech companies participated in the submissions. The public contributes to the voting, but a judging panel including Craig Newmark of Craigslist, Kannan Pashupathy and Ory Okolloh will decide the top 3 submissions, five Honorable Mentions and a Large Organization Recognition Award.

The emphasis in the Open Data Initiative is of course data, this time harnessed for the public good and charitable causes mainly focusing on developing nations. The World Bank made all of its data available for free, in order to try and accomplish what it wouldn’t normally be able to via traditional funding and internal processes. It’s a promising look at what the cloud has to offer, extending its capabilities beyond the enterprise and into the knowledge banks of millions around the world.  When data becomes open for sharing purposes, there’s no telling what the greater public can do with this information, though the World Bank is anxious and encouraging towards finding out.