Michael Cañares is managing consultant of Step Up Consulting based in the Philippines. He manages five research projects related to open data: the Open LGU Research Project which looks into open data initiatives at the local level in the Philippines; an agency-readiness assessment on open data of Philippine national departments; two synthesis papers – one on Open Data and Intermediaries and another on Open Data at the Sub-national Level; and action research on modes of capacity building on open data for civil society organizations. He also works part-time as project manager of the Web Foundation’s Open Data Lab Jakarta.