It was not that long ago that the World Bank opened up its data banks to users. Since that momentous day, the Bank has been swamped by users, all keen to use the data - so much so that traffic to the data site now dwarfs traffic to the Bank's home page, according to Aleem Walji, practice manager of World Bank Institute's innovation team.

He was speaking at the Guardian's Activate 2011 summit, at which a large number of speakers addressed the use of data to solve pressing social problems.

In his talk, Aleem Walji said that within weeks of the Bank's data site going live, a user, Michael Benedict, had launched a web site, Blind Data, which identified missing data and minimal coverage of countries. This led the Bank to launch Apps for Development, a competition to encourage users to develop applications around the data.

Summit speakers obviously felt data was hugely important. Can Data Save the World? was the title of one 20-minute panel discussion on how data can be used for positive social impact.