White House.gov Blog Feed: Open Government Blog

Unconferences, Hack-A-Thons, and a Code for Livability

Chris Vein — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:57:06 +0000

This past weekend saw three amazing open government events take place in both Washington, DC and New York City.

On Saturday, the Transportation Camp held its annual “unconference” in Washington, DC. An unconference is a more open version of a traditional conference, allowing participants the opportunity to help shape the structure and format of the day’s events. This year’s Transportation Camp, which was organized by OpenPlans, Mobility Lab, and Greater Greater Washington, hosted several hundred citizens, students, developers, businesses, and local and Federal government employees. Discussion focused on ways to engage citizens in decisions affecting transportation issues – including ways to better use bike shares open data. In addition, citizens and city officials brainstormed on ways to increase access to public transportation for all users, including those with limited mobility. And developers leveraged city and Federal datasets—ssome via the Federal platform Data.gov—inin addition to data provided by businesses like Capital Bike Share, to create platforms and services that help citizens make more informed decisions related to their commute.

Celebrating Our Veterans With “Apps for Heroes”

Aneesh Chopra and Peter Levin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:21:50 +0000

Last Wednesday, we joined Dr. Jill Biden at the Code for America headquarters, a non-profit startup that has attracted dozens of civic-minded software developers spending a year building new products and services – powered, in part, by open government data – to improve the lives of everyday Americans.

Seeking Your Input on the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan

Aneesh Chopra — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:14:46 +0000

On September 20, 2011, on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly, the President announced the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan. The Plan was developed through a process that involved extensive consultations with external stakeholders, including a broad range of civil society groups and members of the private sector, to gather ideas on open government. As we continue our work to implement the National Action Plan, we want your help. Specifically, we’d like your input and recommendations on how to improve and help facilitate public participation – your participation – in government.

The United States committed to undertake 26 Open Government initiatives in the National Action Plan, and we are working to implement each of them now. For example, the White House recently announced that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will be the senior U.S. official to lead implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an effort to ensure that taxpayers receive every dollar due for extraction of our natural resources. A major milestone was also reached in the development of an open government platform that will enable governments around the world to stand up their own open government data sites. And just last week, the President fulfilled a commitment made in the National Action Plan to begin a government-wide effort to reform and modernize records management policies and practices.

We are now requesting your assistance with one of the initiatives in the U.S. National Action Plan designed to promote public participation:

Develop Best Practices and Metrics for Public Participation. We will identify best practices for public participation in government and suggest metrics that will allow agencies to assess progress toward the goal of becoming more participatory. This effort will highlight those agencies that have incorporated the most useful and robust forms of public participation in order to encourage other agencies to learn from their examples.”

Given the focus of this initiative, we thought it would be most appropriate to invite you to provide input and ideas on best practices and metrics for public participation, including but not limited to suggestions and recommendations that address the following questions:

What are the appropriate measures for tracking and evaluating participation efforts in agency Open Government Plans?
What should be the minimum standard of good participation?
How should participation activities be compared across agencies with different programs, amounts of regulatory activity, budgets, staff sizes, etc.?
What are the most effective forms of technology and web tools to encourage public participation, engage with the private sector/non-profit and academic communities, and provide the public with greater and more meaningful opportunities to influence agencies’ plans?
What are possible mechanisms for agencies to increase the level of diversity of viewpoints and backgrounds brought to bear in their activities and decisions?
What are the most effective strategies for ensuring that participation is well-informed?
What are some examples of success stories involving strong public participation, as well as less-than-successful efforts, and what lessons can be drawn from them?

Please send your thoughts to us at opengov@ostp.gov or use the web form provided, by January 3, 2012. We will consider your ideas and input as we continue to implement the U.S. National Action Plan and develop this best practices guidance on public participation.

Thank you.

Data.gov Goes Global

Steven VanRoekel, Aneesh Chopra — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:29:15 +0000

Last week, President Obama’s unprecedented efforts to advance open and transparent Government reached an important milestone. As part of a joint effort by the United States and India to build an open government platform, the U.S. team has deposited open source code– an important benchmark in developing the Open Government Platform that will enable governments around the world to stand up their own open government data sites.

Last week’s announcement is part of a broader effort to make government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. In September, the United States was one of eight founding governments of the Open Government Partnership,a new multilateral initiative that secures concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.The President also unveiled the U.S. National Action Plan on Open Government, which detailed steps the United States will take to help meet the initiative’s goals.

The plan specifically called for an effort under the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue to produce “Data.gov-in-a-Box” -- an open source version of the United States’ Data.gov data portal and India’s India.gov.in document portal. The U.S. and India are working together to produce an open source version available for implementation by countries globally, encouraging governments around the word to stand up open data sites that promote transparency, improve citizen engagement, and engage application developers in continuously improving these efforts. Technical teams from the U.S. and Indian governments have been working together since August of this year, with a planned launch of the open source product (which is now called the Open Government Platform (OGPL) to reflect its broad scope) in early 2012.

The module -- paired with the software for the Open Government Platform website being developed by India -- will enable governments around the world to launch their own open government sites and increase transparency and accountability. In the meantime, the U.S.-India team will continue to improve and integrate the modules of the Open Government Platform for the planned launch early next year.

Steven VanRoekel is the Federal Chief Information Officer

Aneesh Chopra is the Federal Chief Technology Officer

A Milestone for Expediting Air Traffic Modernization

Aneesh Chopra — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:44:56 +0000

Yesterday, the President’s Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients unveiled the Federal Infrastructure Projects Dashboard, an open government initiative that tracks the progress of high priority infrastructure projects as they are expedited through their regulatory review and permitting processes.

In October I highlighted the importance one of these projects, a Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, pilot project in Houston. NextGen is a comprehensive modernization of our Nation’s air traffic infrastructure, with the potential to save time and money for air travelers while delivering environmental benefits for communities on the ground.

By the Numbers: 475 Million

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:10:11 +0000

The National Archives and Record Administration has collected, on average, 475 million pages of records a year for each of the last 10 years. Thanks to new technology, both the volume and diversity of material being archived has increased, but Federal agencies aren't keeping up with this heavier load.

Making these records available and accessible to the public is an important step toward giving people clear and accurate information about the decisions and actions of the Federal Government. That, however, is largely dependent on taking advantage of these technology advances and making information available electronically, instead of relying on paper-based archives.

Today, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum that will do exactly that. His memorandum instructs Federal agencies move into a digital-based record keeping system, and which will save money, promote accountability, and increase government transparency.

Recommitting Ourselves to Making Government More Effective

Chris Vein and Remington Gregg — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:30:26 +0000

Last week, President Obama stood with other heads of state to endorse the principles of the Open Government Partnership and launch the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan.

We are proud of the work done so far to make our government more efficient and effective, and to illustrate the breadth of work done so far, many agencies posted blogs on their achievements of the last two and a half years. In particular, the Department of Transportation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of the Treasury, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, and General Services Administration are recommitting themselves to the principles of open government.

More still, agencies are doubling down and announcing new and innovative initiatives in addition to the commitments that are already in their Open Government Plans. For example, the Department of Justice plans to convene an Interagency Technology Working Group to focus on expanding the use of technology in the core elements of FOIA administration. And, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will establish an Innovation Lab that will benefit HUD through the incubation of novel and unique ideas that improve interactions with customers, increase mission efficiency and efficacy, and reduce duplication of effort.

Agencies continue to play a lead role in making our government more open. One initiative in our Plan commits to working to modernize the management of government records. To that end, the Archivist of the United States David Ferriero will convene a meeting of international archivists to discuss the role they play in a more open government. And, NASA will launch the International Space Apps Challenge to help improve public services and promote innovation through collaboration.

The Plan that we unveiled last week, and the initiatives that agencies are continuing to implement, are part of a larger effort to fulfill the President’s commitment to make our government more “open and competent.” In some ways, the hard work is just beginning, but we look forward to the work ahead.

Chris Vein is the US Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation

Remington Gregg is Advisor for Open Government

Open Government Action Plan for Innovators

Aneesh Chopra — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:13:58 +0000

On Tuesday, President Obama joined 40 Heads of State on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to unveil the U.S. National Action Plan on Open Government, an ambitious effort to promote accountability, empower people with information they “can readily find and use”, and ensure public officials tap into the expertise and wisdom of the American people when setting policy.

Consistent with the goals of harnessing the creativity of the American people, a national plan for the United States has been designed in consultation with a wide range of civil society groups, academics, business leaders, and the general public. This plan will support our Nation’s job creators, especially in industries investing in productivity-enhancing digital infrastructure. In the healthcare sector alone, a recently published McKinsey study estimated a possible $1-300 billion annual productivity gain. Here are three highlights on how the national plan can catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship:

“Doubling Down” on Data.gov Communities: Over the past two years, the Administration has published an unprecedented amount of information in “computer-friendly” formats (over 390,000 data sets) freely available for developers without intellectual property constraint. To spur use, we’ve posted over 100 challenges, prizes or contests ranging from the First Lady’s “Apps for Healthy Kids” to the Vice President’s “Apps Against Abuse” – inviting students, hobbyists and professionals alike to demonstrate our capacity to solve the seemingly unsolvable through innovation.
- In 2011, we've worked to catalyze a growing movement of entrepreneurs and innovators harnessing open data to build sustainable new products or services through the launch of Data.gov “communities” in areas like health and energy. The plan calls on us to double the number of communities this year by expanding into education, R&D, and public safety. More importantly, we will focus like a hawk on connecting innovators to relevant data and unapologetically celebrate those products and services making a difference in the lives of everyday Americans.
“Smart Disclosure”: An important ingredient in driving productivity growth, especially in national priority areas like health, energy, and education, is the ability to measure outcomes. Since June 2010, the Administration has been promoting the use of disclosure as a low-cost, high-impact regulatory tool. For example, healthcare.gov provides access to health insurance market information that had previously been difficult to find – including denial rates and other relevant measures for an individual when searching for insurance options that best meet personal needs.
- To build on this work, the plan calls out recently issued guidance to Federal agencies on “smart disclosure”. While we are broadly supporting agencies and departments over the next year to ensure the timely release of complex information in standardized, machine-readable formats, we are particularly focused on catalyzing new products and services in areas that spur productivity growth – value-based payments in healthcare, higher education and energy use.
“Government as a Platform”: The infrastructure of the open data movement itself is evolving. While we are proud of the public reception to open government applications like data.gov, challenge.gov, the redesigned federalregister.gov and so forth, we are inspired by the limitless potential for governments within the U.S. and around the world to develop new and exciting tools that reflect openness as a core value in governance.
- To seed this movement, the plan calls on the Administration, in partnership with the Government of India, to release “Data.gov-in-a-Box” as an open source version of the United States’ Data.gov portal and India’s “India.gov.in” document portal. In the coming months, we will contribute the core set of applications that facilitate access to open government data, the mechanisms to extend such applications by any third party developer, and to inspire the public and private sector to engage in a “Race to the Top” to facilitate the use of open data in new products and services.

The U.S. National Action Plan includes plenty of other important initiatives to support the relationship between job creators and the government, including a commitment to publish guidelines on how to access scientific data produced through unclassified federal research funding, the ability to tap into their expertise on relevant public policy deliberations through an “ExpertNet” platform, and a global “Apps” competition drawing a global cadre of scientists and concerned citizens to harness open data to solve global challenges including weather impacts and the depletion of ocean resources.

We remain inspired by the growing number of open innovators and are confident this plan will accelerate this trend and increase the probability we invent our way out of some of the most pressing challenges that confront us.

Aneesh Chopra is US Chief Technology Officer

President Obama on Open Government: "The Essence of Democracy"

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:23:04 +0000

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This week, President Obama is in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly to meet with partners and address a range of issues with the international community, including open government.

At the U.N. General Assembly last year, President Obama called on nations to make, "specific commitments to promote transparency, to fight corruption, to energize civic engagement, and to leverage new technologies so we can strengthen the foundations of freedom in our own countries." Today, the President outlined the progress that has already been made in response to his call to action:

And now we see governments around the world meeting this challenge, including many represented here today. Countries from Mexico to Turkey to Liberia have passed laws guaranteeing citizens the right to information. From Chile to Kenya to the Philippines, civil society groups are giving citizens new tools to report corruption. From Tanzania to Indonesia -- and as I saw firsthand during my visit to India -- rural villages are organizing and making their voices heard, and getting the public services that they need. Governments from Brazil to South Africa are putting more information online, helping people hold public officials accountable for how they spend taxpayer dollars.

Here in the United States, we’ve worked to make government more open and responsive than ever before. We’ve been promoting greater disclosure of government information, empowering citizens with new ways to participate in their democracy. We are releasing more data in usable forms on health and safety and the environment, because information is power, and helping people make informed decisions and entrepreneurs turn data into new products, they create new jobs. We’re also soliciting the best ideas from our people in how to make government work better. And around the world, we’re standing up for freedom to access information, including a free and open Internet.

The United States Releases its Open Government National Action Plan

Aneesh Chopra and Cass Sunstein — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:30:00 +0000

“In all parts of the world, we see the promise of innovation to make government more open and accountable. And now, we must build on that progress. And when we gather back here next year, we should bring specific commitments to promote transparency; to fight corruption; to energize civic engagement; to leverage new technologies so that we strengthen the foundations of freedom in our own countries, while living up to the ideals that can light the world.”

--President Barack Obama, September 23, 2010

On September 23, 2010, President Obama challenged the members of the United Nations General Assembly to work together to make all governments more open and accountable to their people. To meet that challenge, in July 2011, the United States and Brazil announced the creation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) – a global initiative that supports efforts to promote more transparent, effective, and accountable institutions globally. The OGP effort builds directly on steps President Obama has taken since the first full day of his Administration to strengthen democracy and promote a more efficient and effective government through greater openness.

And today, as part the OGP effort, the U.S. and other members of the OGP Steering Committee are coming together in New York to welcome new members to the partnership and to unveil Open Government National Action Plans. As we developed a U.S. National Action Plan (“National Plan”), the Federal Government engaged in extensive consultations with external stakeholders, including a broad range of civil society groups and members of the private sector. We solicited input from the Administration’s own Open Government Working Group, comprised of senior-level representatives from executive branch departments and agencies. White House policymakers also engaged the public via a series of blog posts, requesting ideas about how to focus Open Government efforts on increasing public integrity, more effectively managing public resources, and improving public services.

Among the highlights of the Plan:

“We the People.” The White House announced the launch of the “We the People” petition platform to give Americans a direct line to voice their concerns to the Administration via online petitions. In addition, the Administration plans to publish the source code of the new “We the People” petition platform so that it is available to any government around the world that seeks to solicit and respond to the concerns of the public.
Whistleblower Protection. Recently, Congress nearly enacted whistleblower legislation that would eliminate loopholes in existing protections, provide protections for employees in the intelligence community, and create pilot programs to explore potential structural reforms in the remedial process. The Administration will continue to work with Congress to enact this legislation. But if Congress remains deadlocked, the Administration will explore options for utilizing executive branch authority to strengthen and expand whistleblower protections.
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The U.S. is committing to implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). EITI requires governments to publicly disclose their revenues from oil, gas, and mining assets, and for companies to make parallel disclosures regarding payments. By signing onto the global standard that EITI sets, the U.S. Government can help ensure that American taxpayers are receiving every dollar due for the extraction of these valuable public resources.

Other initiatives include: expanding the use of technology to achieve greater efficiencies in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) administration; overhaul the public participation interface on regulations.gov to help the public find, follow, and participate in Federal rulemakings; and launching ExpertNet, a platform to communicate with citizens who have expertise on a pertinent topic. There are a lot of exciting initiatives in our Plan – too many to recount in this post – but you can view the full plan here .

At the President’s State of the Union Address in January 2011, he said that the American people deserve a government that is “open and competent.” Building on the efforts inaugurated by the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, and the President’s continued leadership, we look forward to the work ahead.

An Update on the Open Government U.S. National Action Plan

Aneesh Chopra and Cass Sunstein — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The Open Government Plan of the United States will formally launch on September 20, on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. We are busy finalizing our National Action Plan but wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for all of the comments that we received during our public consultation. All of the responsive comments that we received can be found here.

In the meantime, we hope that you’ll stay tuned to all of the upcoming events next Tuesday in New York, including the signing of the Open Government Declaration, which will be live streamed at www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Cass Sunstein is the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

A Status Report on the Administration’s Commitment to Open Government

Steven Croley — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:00:02 +0000

President Obama has made open government a high priority. Greater openness renders our government more efficient and effective. It strengthens our democracy. It improves our citizens’ lives.

To these ends, the Administration has taken many substantial steps to promote increased participation and collaboration in government, and to make government more transparent. For example, federal agencies have increased transparency through redoubled efforts to disclose more information under the Freedom of Information Act. They have implemented ambitious Open Government Plans, and made voluminous data newly available to the public. The Administration has also made spending information more transparent, and taken steps to disclose previously sensitive government information.

Of course, creating a more open government requires sustained effort. How best to harness new technologies in the service of open government, to strike the proper balance between transparency and the protection of national security and personal privacy, to change agency culture so that openness becomes the new normal–such issues require long-term commitment.

The Open Government Partnership and Development of the U.S. Open Government Plan

Aneesh Chopra and Cass Sunstein — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:27:14 +0000

The Open Government Plan of the United States will be formally launched in September on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. As we continue our work on the plan, we want to thank you for your help and participation. Last week, on this blog, we posed several questions asking for your ideas about how we can focus open government efforts on improving public services and increasing public integrity. We are grateful for the helpful responses we have received, and we will be publishing all responsive submissions online in the next few weeks.

In response to our inquiries, some people have asked for additional information about the Open Government Partnership and the Open Government Plan, and on how they fit into the Administration’s domestic Open Government Initiative. We provide some more detail here.

The White House’s Open Government Initiative is a domestic effort, launched on the President’s first full day in office, to work toward an “unprecedented level of openness in government.” Over the past two years, responding to the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, Federal agencies have done a great deal to make information about how government works more accessible to the public, to solicit citizens’ participation in government decision-making, and to collaborate with all sectors of the economy on new and innovative solutions.

The Changing Role of Federal Chief Information Officers

Steven VanRoekel — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:22:20 +0000

Today, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum (PDF) that lays out key responsibilities and authorities for Agency Chief Information Officers (CIOs). These authorities will enable CIOs to reduce the number of wasteful duplicative systems, simplify services for the American people, and deliver more effective information technology [IT] to support their agency’s mission.

This memo builds on the work the Administration has done under the 25 Point Plan to Reform Federal IT Management, now in its eighth month of implementation. These reforms were developed to remedy what had become routine in Washington: IT projects running over budget, falling behind schedule, or failing to deliver promised functionality, hampering agency missions and wasting taxpayer dollars.

This situation is no longer commonplace. If you take a look at the achievements every CIO has already accomplished under the reform plan, they have fundamentally changed the way the federal government manages information technology. The memorandum will help CIOs deliver on key areas to drive results and yield an even greater impact.

Open Government and the National Plan

Aneesh Chopra and Cass Sunstein — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:08:15 +0000

Over the last two and a half years, President Obama has demonstrated a strong commitment to making government information more accessible to the public and to involving citizens in decisions that affect their lives. The resulting commitment to “Open Government” has spurred a wide range of initiatives. Most recently, the United States has worked with many other nations to create an Open Government Partnership that will promote that commitment around the world.

Since taking office, the President has directed his Administration to take significant steps to make the federal government more efficient and effective through three guiding principles: transparency, participation, and collaboration. In his January 2009 Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, the President instructed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue an Open Government Directive requiring agencies to release data to the American people that they “can readily find and use.” With the help of the public, agencies produced detailed Open Government Plans to take specific steps and to establish long-term goals to achieve greater openness and transparency. These plans are located on agency home pages at [agency domain].gov/open. With direct input from the American people, agency plans continue to evolve and improve.

As agencies developed their Open Government Plans, we also made unprecedented amounts of information available to the public, in part through a centralized government platform, data.gov. This platform now provides the public with access to hundreds of thousands of agency data sets on a broad range of issues -- from crime, air quality, and budgetary matters, to automobile safety seats, airline performance, weather patterns, and product recalls.

The Administration’s Open Government efforts are now taking on an international flavor with the multi-national Open Government Partnership, which Secretary Clinton recently announced. As Secretary Clinton stated, “We believe this new global effort to improve governance, accelerate economic growth, and empower citizens worldwide is exactly what we should all be doing together in the 21st century.”

Spurring International Momentum for Open Government

Aneesh Chopra and Cass Sunstein — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:12:12 +0000

Today, the United States and Brazil announced the creation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) – a global initiative that supports efforts to promote more transparent, effective, and accountable institutions globally. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, this initiative is governed by a steering committee that includes governments and civil society groups from around the world.

This effort builds directly on steps President Obama has taken since the first day of his Administration to strengthen democracy and promote a more efficient and effective government through greater openness.

Since the release of the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, Federal agencies have done much to make information about how government works more accessible to the public, to solicit citizens’ participation in government decision-making, and to collaborate with all sectors of the economy on new and innovative solutions. We have launched websites such as Recovery.gov, ITDashboard.gov, and USAspending.gov to ensure the effective use of taxpayer dollars; released useful data through the centralized portal, data.gov; and opened new opportunities for the public to engage in solving our most pressing problems through Challenge.gov and online communities focused on health, energy, and the law.

The Open Government Partnership seeks to galvanize international momentum on issues of open government. President Obama spoke about the importance of open government at the UN General Assembly in 2010, and challenged leaders to return with specific commitments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. This is a new vehicle for supporting governments as they take these important steps.

Our action plan for the Open Government Partnership will continue and build upon the Open Government efforts first launched by the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, and we look forward to your input and ideas as we develop our action plan going forward.

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Cass Sunstein is Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

COMPETES Act Births Innovation Initiative for Health IT

Tom Kalil — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:31:20 +0000

Today, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) announced the Investing in Innovations (i2) initiative – an exciting new $5 million program to spur health IT innovations through prizes, challenges, and other mechanisms to improve the health care of all Americans.

The core of this bold initiative will be a series of prize competitions – up to 15 each year – that will accelerate innovation and adoption of health IT for improved clinical outcomes and efficient care delivery. For example, a prize competition under i2 might challenge software developers to build new tools for the seamless exchange of health information among hospitals, clinics, and physicians with tailored privacy settings or to create new “blue button” apps that enable patients to download and reuse their clinical information.

This bold initiative leverages the new prize authority in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 to execute on the President’s call for agencies to increase their use of prizes and challenges to spur innovation and solve tough problems. The ONC Investing in Innovations initiative is a harbinger of a new paradigm in which – under the America COMPETES Act – prize competitions become a strategic tool in every agency’s innovation portfolio.

The i2 initiative builds on the success of prize competitions under the Department of Health and Human Services Community Health Data Initiative and the SMART Apps for Health challenge that closed last week. SMART (Substitutable Medical Apps, Reusable Technologies) is one of several research projects supported by ONC through their SHARP R&D initiative and is focused on the notion that an open platform could transform the health IT market by reducing the distribution costs for entrepreneurs.

With just a modest $5,000 prize and a 90-day competition, the SMART Apps for Health challenge attracted over 300 supporters and 15 quality submissions, garnered a wide level of attention,and attracted a wide field of innovators, with what promises to be a significant catalyst for spurring a breakthrough, innovative health IT platform. Contestants ranged from established companies to clinical researchers, to individual innovators. The creative submissions included specialized tools that enable clinical decision support through diagnostic applications, clinical dashboards that link EMRs with immunization registry and syndromic surveillance data, and multi-use applications that support clinical workflow and medical record annotation.

A star panel of judges is currently in a spirited debate as to which of the compelling submissions will go home with the prize. But on June 22nd, I’m convinced the real winners will be the care delivery system as the stories of what is possible attract new talent and ideas to bear on the future of health IT. We look forward to engaging this fast-growing community through the Investing in Innovation initiative in the months to come.

Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Open Government Plans' Anniversary is a Testament to Hard Work at Agencies

Chris Vein — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:06:50 +0000

One year ago today, in response to the President’s Open Government Initiative, agencies released their open government plans. It is hard to overstate the importance of these plans because they serve as a roadmap for how agencies intend to embed a culture of open government into how they carry out their day-to-day missions.

Over the past year, agencies have been hard at work implementing these plans and the results have been truly impressive. For example, agencies are:

Releasing data. For years, agencies have collected data in support of their particular missions. But before the ubiquitous use of technology, data often sat in filing cabinets and agency basements. Now, agencies such as the Social Security Administration have data inventory plans for releasing high-value data. As of March 2011, data.gov has more than 379,000 data sets of useful information.
Convening citizen developers. Whether you call them geeks or techies , some of the greatest innovations in government have been the result of citizen developers who simply want to do their part to make our government work better. From the Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Data Health Initiative to “Transportation Camps”—“un-meetings aimed at solving transportation problems—throughout the United States, citizens are using their talents to help make government data that are simply lying around actually work for the American people.
Sponsoring Prizes and Challenges. One of the most important events in Open Government in 2010 was passage of the America COMPETES Act reauthorization, which provided important legal authorities to Federal agencies wishing to sponsor challenges and prizes. The government’s new challenge.gov portal is helping agencies and departments do just that and, as of March 2011, has helped highlight more than 75 prizes and challenges.
Putting Entrepreneurs to Work! Open government has strengthened the United States’ reputation for being the most innovative and entrepreneurial country in the world. Many open government plans have laid out procedures for releasing high-value datasets that can spur new opportunities for economic growth. For example, Brightscope—a provider of 401K-related financial intelligence—has taken the Department of Labor’s data about employee fees being paid for their retirement plans and built a successful information business, giving jobs to more than 30 employees in the last year. Similarly, the Small Business Administration’s revamped Open Government website provides a wealth of new information to help catalyze economic opportunity for small business.

These are just a few of the initiatives that open government plans have helped to launch in the past year. According to an independent assessment, there are more than 350 ongoing open government initiatives operating across the Federal government! And several agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, are continually updating their open government webpages with revised plans, quarterly reports, Data.gov news, and other tools to track progress and receive feedback.

While there is always more to be done, we are proud of the important work that agencies have done and are doing to change the culture of government to one that encourages transparency and facilitates innovation. We are committed to maintaining and building upon this momentum to make our Nation stronger and to make the lives of Americans better.

Chris Vein is the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation

Access to Capital: Fueling Business Growth and Job Creation

Aneesh Chopra — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:24:07 +0000

Ed. Note: As part of the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtable series, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and U.S. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills will take your questions and suggestions about what processes and regulations we need to adjust to foster a more nurturing environment for entrepreneurship and innovation. Watch and participate today at 12:00pm EDT on whitehouse.gov/live.

I had the pleasure yesterday of sitting down with nearly 100 leading entrepreneurs, investors, underwriters, academics, and fund managers—including Chuck Newhall, the legendary co-Founder of one of the Nation’s most prestigious venture capital firms, New Enterprise Associates—at the Treasury Department’s Access to Capital Conference. The event was one of a number of creative forums the Administration has held to generate new, actionable ideas to ensure that small businesses have the resources to achieve high growth.

The event built on President Obama’s January launch of Startup America, an initiative to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth American entrepreneurship that includes a number of commitments to expand access to capital for entrepreneurs. Capital, invested by the private sector, is what helps entrepreneurs realize their dreams and turn ideas into startups, and it’s what turns small businesses into fast-growing companies that create jobs and fuel sustainable economic growth.

At yesterday’s conference, we took an important step forward in that mission with an open and honest dialogue about how best to cultivate investment and growth. And we made real progress.

Three Trends on Fostering Innovation through Open Government

Aneesh Chopra and Chris Vein — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:07:05 +0000

Last Sunday, economist Dick Thaler wrote an article in the New York Times highlighting the many ways innovators are using government data to create platforms, applications, and other useful tools that touch the lives of our friends and neighbors. As we celebrate Sunshine Week, we thought we’d reflect on the intersection of our open government initiative and the President’s Strategy for American Innovation.

We are focused on three trends that are fostering government innovation:

The Rise of a New Information Intermediary Industry: The release of government data has contributed to a new category of products and services designed to make information more relevant and useful to a variety of audiences. Reflecting the market potential, venture capitalists have backed firms like Socrata and Infochimps that repurpose open data sets for developers and others to quickly and easily put them to good use. Think of this industry as competing to provide the “last-mile” of information service to help consumers, companies, and stakeholders keenly interested in effective, efficient government.
The Incorporation of Data in New Products and Services: An emerging trend aligned with the President’s strategy to “out-innovate” our economic competitors is the incorporation of open data into new products and services. We’ve previously written about Brightscope, which has now grown into a multi-million-dollar information business supporting over 30 employees. This past weekend, at the Startup America session at SXSW, noted early-stage investor Vinod Khosla shared the story of his participation in a $42 million investment in Weatherbill, an insurance company helping farmers to adapt to climate change, powered by real-time information freely available through the National Weather Service.
The Extension of Government Platforms: Agencies are increasingly inviting third party developers to extend the value of government websites or to solve specific problems through platforms like Challenge.gov, which as of March 2011 showcased 75 prizes, including the SMART Apps for Health. The Commerce Department, in collaboration with the FCC, recently launched The National Broadband Map to shine light on coverage gaps, including developer tools to extend the value of the platform. An early adopter - the Department of Education - published a “mashup” incorporating school data so communities are empowered to ensure that their children are equipped for the jobs of the future.

These trends reflect great promise for open government as a catalyst for productivity growth. But they also point to a new phenomenon - the rise of citizen developers. At a recent “Transportation Camp” in New York City, concerned citizens met with government transportation leaders to discuss transportation issues at the Federal and local level. We learned an alarming statistic: almost 3 out of 4 parents improperly install their child safety seat. Others at the Camp were concerned too, so much so that one member of the audience created a mobile app that now allows parents to find the nearest inspection stationwhere professionals can install their child seatsecurely, improving access to an existing government website.

President Obama is committed to ensuring that the 21st century does not leave the Federal government behind. We’re using technology to save money, create a more participatory government, and to make a real different in the lives of all Americans, from informing your family about recalls to finding new and fun ways to get the whole family to eat healthy and stay active. Stay tuned for more.

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Chris Vein is the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation

Sunshine, Savings, and Service

Vivek Kundra — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:48:37 +0000

For too long, the Federal Government has failed to effectively harness the power and potential of information technology (IT) -- despite spending approximately $80 billion dollars on IT each year, and more than $600 billion over the past decade. As a result, it has lagged far behind the private sector in the reaping the gains in productivity and enhancements in service from IT. To get a better return on this investment for the American people, we have fundamentally altered the way we manage the federal government's IT projects -- using transparency to shed light on government operations and to hold government managers accountable for results.

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On my first day on the job, at the beginning of the Obama Administration, I was handed a portfolio that included $27 Billion in IT projects that were years behind schedule, and over budget. I quickly found that the sheer size of the portfolio often led to a sense of faceless accountability and quickly set out to fix that. That’s why just months after President Obama took office, we launched the IT Dashboard (June, 2009) – which provides a clear window into Federal IT projects, bolstering transparency and accountability. The IT Dashboard shines a light on these projects, including if they are on schedule and within budget -- and posting the photo and name of the official responsible -- and agencies continue to increase transparency and improve data quality.

Investing in Open Government to Create A More Efficient and Effective Government

Chris Lu — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:26:24 +0000

Ed. Note: This post is part of our Sunshine Week series, a national initiative to celebrate and focus on government transparency and open government.

Federal agencies collect enormous amounts of data about such diverse matters as automobile safety, air travel, air quality, workplace safety, drug safety, nutrition, crime, obesity, the employment market, and health care. The Obama Administration has made it a priority to share this and other government information – what the President has called a “national asset” – to improve citizen education and decision-making, and to spur innovation and job creation.

Federal agencies are working hard to foster open government, and we encourage you to examine what they have done. For example:

The Department of Homeland Security created “Virtual USA,” enabling public safety officials across all levels of government to share information in real time, and improve response to national disasters.
The Department of Energy, as part of its efforts to promote clean energy, launched OpenEI.org, containing dozens of clean energy resources and data sets, including maps of worldwide solar and wind potential, information on climate zones, and energy best practices. The Department intends to expand these resources to include on-line training and technical expert networks.
The Environmental Protection Agency, together with other federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, developed AIRNow.gov, offering the public daily Air Quality Index forecasts and real-time Air Quality Index conditions for over 300 cities across the country as well as links to detailed state and local air quality cites.
And six federal agencies—the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, and the EPA—created Recalls.gov, to alert the public to unsafe, hazardous, or defective products and up-to-date consumer safety information.

Throughout the week, WhiteHouse.gov will continue highlighting the Administration’s commitment to open government, including the accomplishments of three other departments – Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Transportation. We hope you will take a moment to read these blog posts. What unites these federal agencies is that they all consider open government to be a long-term investment in building a stronger democracy and creating a more efficient and effective government.

Chris Lu is Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary

Sunshine Week 2011 and Our Ongoing Commitment to Open Government

Steve Croley — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:18:48 +0000

This week is “Sunshine Week.” Led by the American Society of News Editors and originally funded by the Knight Foundation, Sunshine Week is observed by media organizations around the country. It coincides with National Freedom of Information Day—March 16—selected to fall on James Madison’s birthday. Journalists, good-government groups, transparency advocates, educators, and many others interested in government transparency host events throughout the week to promote open government and freedom of information. They do so to assess the extent to which government is truly open, and to encourage citizens to seek information from their government and participate in public affairs.

Sunshine Week provides an ideal time to recount the Administration’s many open government successes since last March. And so each day this week, we will identify various ways in which agencies have made our government more open and, in turn, more democratic and more efficient. On Monday, the Department of Justice launched FOIA.gov, and we reviewed some of the substantial progress agencies across the government have made to disclose more and withhold less. We will recount, among other things, how greater transparency has saved government resources, and how technology and openness have been fused in ways that improve the everyday lives of our citizens. We will also feature the enormous work many agencies have done over the past year to make government more open and foster public participation. As the examples are too numerous to catalogue here, I encourage you to visit agencies’ own Open Government websites, which feature their recent successes.

Open government is a commitment, though, not a task. Thus the Administration’s efforts to promote open government are, as they should be, still ongoing. Nor is greater transparency desirable in every case and circumstance. Our government also owes its citizens, among other things, protection of their personal privacy and business confidentiality, effective law enforcement, and a strong national defense. That understood, the Administration’s commitment to open government, and the great progress it has made so far, are unmistakable.

Steve Croley is Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy

SMArt Prize for Patients, Physicians, and Researchers

Aneesh Chopra — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:02:44 +0000

This week a research team at Children’s Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School launched a prize to encourage innovative app developers to build new products and services that benefit patients and providers. The prize was created with funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within the Department of Health and Human Services, and constitutes just the latest in a growing number of examples of the Federal government fostering R&D collaboration through open innovation.

The SMArt Prize competition could speed innovation in any number of areas. Developers might build a medication manager, a health risk detector, a laboratory visualization tool, or an app that integrates, in real time, patient data with external data sources—such as publication data in PubMed, CDC statistics, environmental data, financial data available at http://www.data.gov/health. In doing so, SMArt promises to help patients, doctors, and others realize the full potential of information technology to help transform how we manage health and healthcare.

The best app developed for the SMArt API by May 31 will win a $5,000 prize, as determined by an all-star panel of judges including:

Susannah Fox (Director of Health Research, Pew Internet & American Life Project)
Regina Herzlinger (Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School)
David C. Kibbe (Chair, ASTM International E31 Technical Committee on Healthcare Informatics; Principal, The Kibbe Group LLC; Senior Advisor, American Academy of Family Physicians)
Ben Shneiderman (Professor of Computer Science at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland, College Park)
Doug Solomon (Chief Technology Officer, IDEO)
Edward Tufte (Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Statistics, and Computer Science, Yale University)
Jim Walker (Chief Health Information Officer, Geisinger Health Systems)

This endeavor is an example of why I share Bryan Roberts’ view that the stage is now set for dramatic jumps in healthcare innovation. The evolving ecosystem of health IT will be further expanded by modular architectures, open APIs and the applications that can engage them. This development will dramatically expand the market for health IT by offering applications that can meet any niche and any need - from individual consumers to small practices to large organizations—thereby making the transformative power of health IT felt more fully and broadly.

We look forward to celebrating all those who compete!

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Social Security 101: It’s There For You!

Frank Baitman and Aneesh Chopra — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:44:22 +0000

More than seventy-five years ago, Social Security began with a promise to protect all Americans from a life of poverty in old age. Since then, the program’s protections have grown to cover other life events, like disability, the loss of a loved one, or severe financial hardship. Many Americans may think Social Security is only about retirement, but it actually can benefit people well before they retire.

Now the Social Security Administration is teaming up with President Obama’s Open Government initiative to help educate Americans about these important benefits. Open Government—built on the principles of transparency and public participation—has been a hallmark of this Administration and continues to engage Americans in a dialogue about their government and what it does on their behalf. To this end, the Social Security Administration will host a webinar, Social Security 101: What’s In It For Me? on March 10th at 3pm EST/Noon PST. Viewers will gain a better understanding of how Social Security provides support through both unexpected and predictable life events. Participants will connect through an interactive, online medium and get answers to questions like, “What’s that FICA tax that comes out of my paycheck?” and “Why do I need to start planningnow for my financial future?”

The webinar will be geared especially towards college students and young workers—many of whom may not realize what Social Security has to offer—but it will also be an opportunity for people of all ages to learn more about one of this country’s most important programs.

Watch, learn something new, and join the conversation. RSVP and view the webinar here.

Frank Baitman is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Social Security Administration

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Air Force Launches Open Innovation Pavilion

Robynn Sturm — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:01:47 +0000

In partnership with the Wright Brothers Institute, the U.S. Air Force Research Lab this week launched a new Open Innovation Pavilion on InnoCentive, an online innovation marketplace where more than a quarter million of the world’s brightest minds solve tough problems for cash awards.

The newly launched Pavilion already features more than $100,000 in prizes for novel solutions to four tough challenges facing the U.S. Air Force:

The Design and Simulation of an Accurate Shooter-Locator competition challenges innovators to develop a method to detect small arms fire within a fraction of a second and accurately pinpoint its source;
The Humanitarian Air Drop challenge seeks novel ways to drop humanitarian supplies into populated areas without danger of falling debris to the people below;
The Vehicle Stopper challenge seeks a viable, sustainable, and affordable means of stopping an uncooperative fleeing vehicle without permanent damage to the vehicle or harm to any of its passengers; and
The Remote Human Demographic Characterization challenge seeks a system that can determine the approximate age and gender of small groups of people at a distance.

The Air Force Open Innovation Pavilion is just the latest milestone in the Obama Administration’s efforts to increase the use of prizes and challenges to spur innovation and solve tough problems. In March 2010, the Office of Management and Budget issued a formal policy framework to guide agency leadership in using prizes to advance their core mission. In September 2010, the Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs and citizen solvers can find public-sector prizes. And in January, the President signed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, providing all agencies with broad authority to conduct prize competitions. As a result, in the first six months alone, Challenge.gov has featured more than 70 challenges from more than 25 agencies across the Executive Branch.

For example, in 2010 NASA piloted a series of science and technical challenges core to its mission in the NASA Innovation Pavilion. One of the challenges sought a forecasting algorithm to protect America’s astronauts from radiation exposure in space. Over 500 problem solvers from 53 countries answered NASA’s call. Expecting no solutions for this long intractable problem, NASA received a solution that exceeded their requirements from a retired radio-frequency engineer in rural New Hampshire. The winner had never before responded to a government request for proposals, let alone worked with NASA. Yet his winning approach forecast solar proton events with 85 percent accuracy, a result NASA dubbed “outstanding.”

Who will be the next unexpected solver? To share your expertise and compete for cash prizes visit www.Challenge.gov.

Robynn Sturm is Advisor for Open Innovation to the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

ExpertNet: Two More Weeks to Weigh In

David McClure — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:53:56 +0000

On December 8, the White House Open Government Initiative and General Services Administration with the support of OMB requested your input in helping us design a next generation public engagement platform where public officials pose questions to citizens and obtain useful and informed contributions for consideration and action.

Because the online consultation has been so informative, we are extending the comment period by two weeks until January 23, 2011 and encourage you to participate and to invite others. Keep in mind you can follow additions and changes to the consultation by going to expertnet.wikispaces.com and clicking on Notify Me.

In the next two weeks, we hope that you will continue to inform our thinking by helping us clarify proposed processes, provide additional information on similar platforms, or propose new ways of accomplishing the goal for each step. Together we will work towards creating a next generation citizen engagement platform that enables participatory government in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Even during the busy holiday season, the feedback that we’ve seen has been plentiful and helpful. We hope that an extra two weeks will give everyone who wants the opportunity to give feedback the opportunity to do so.

Since we launched the wiki four weeks ago, hundreds of users from over 70 countries have visited the site, engaging in an interesting dialogue on how to improve ExpertNet. So far, over 500 messages have been posted to the discussion forums. In addition, people have begun to edit our draft description of ExpertNet directly. For example, wiki edits have included “drkarger” adding a reference section at the end of each editable page for the community to contribute resource examples that relate to that process step. Here’s an example of references contributed for the final step in the process. “TimHuegerich” added links to clarify and provide examples of lesser known topics on the Background and Principles wiki page, among other edits, and “kfogel” updated the government feedback section suggesting that a final step be added to close the loop.

There’s even a wiki page where you can suggest an alternative name to ExpertNet. More than a dozen names have been contributed, including AmericaKnows.gov, SynergyNet, OpenGovWiki, CitizensNet, WiththePeople, and UnitedNet. One commenter even suggested using an online poll to decide which name the public likes the best. In the spirit of true collaboration, one commenter even set up a forum to allow the public to discuss their favorite name.

We hope to foster innovation by asking for feedback on the ExpertNet design concept in a new way and hope you will continue to share your best thinking about the future of citizen engagement through January 23, 2011. If you prefer not to access the wiki, you can email your comments to us at expertnet@ostp.gov.

David McClure is Associate Administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at the U.S. General Services Administration

ExpertNet Wiki: An Update

Aneesh Chopra and Shelley Metzenbaum — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:21:13 +0000

Earlier this month, the White House Open Government Initiative and General Services Administration requested your input in helping us to design an effective public engagement tool that will make it simple for public officials to pose questions that you can share your expertise in ways that are timely, relevant and informative for policymaking. Here's a detailed description (what technologists call a "use case") of the online process in hopes of getting specific suggestions in response:

First, public officials use ExpertNet to pose questions to the public about any topic we're working on -- from creating new jobs to preventing homelessness among Veterans or developing next-gen transportation systems. A simple, online "wizard" will help them make their questions clear. There's an active discussion on the ExpertNet wiki about how to design constraints into questions to improve the quality of responses. One user, GovLoop, writes "it is really hard to write great questions. In survey research, a lot of time and effort is spent on the question formation." Another user, AngieChock, points to the Delphi Approach of posing questions to encourage an interchange of views. Check out "Defining the Topic and Asking Questions" for more.

Second, we want to make sure that the questions reach people with the greatest expertise or enthusiasm for a topic. We imagine distributing questions to professional, online communities; user MDickey1 suggests simply using RSS feeds. Mixtmedia, another wiki user, also adds that better distribution of news about public participation opportunities will attract citizens serving their democracy, entrepreneurs wishing to impress government and others with their marketable know how. Check out Distributing Questions to Professional Networks for more about whether to enable people to rate and rank one another's submissions - in the way we now rate movies or books. Check out Facilitating Structured Responses for more.

Finally, we know that no system will work unless public officials participate actively and explain how the agency uses public's ideas. For example, David Stern1 offers a detailed design for a feedback template. Check out "Synthesizing Public Input and Returning Feedback" for more.

What We Want to Hear More Of

Submissions that have been helpful include those that offer suggestions or solutions to queries or offer a new way of thinking about an aspect of the platform. We are eager to hear about specific examples of tools that will achieve goals outlined here (or something different and why that's preferable). We'd like specific examples of people using such practices, what works well, and what doesn't. We want prototypes, wireframes, and designs. Our goal is to implement a new system for citizen participation as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Expertise Understood Broadly

We chose "ExpertNet" as the working title (we have a page where you can suggest an alternative) because we believe that everyone has expertise, experience and enthusiasm which, if shared in manageable ways, will help us make smarter decisions together. We aren't just looking for participation from people with the highest professional qualifications. We want to make sure that everyone who is interested and has something relevant and useful to share has an opportunity to participate. This is a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" and we have the technology to collaborate on solving the major issues that confront us.

Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Shelley Metzenbaum is Associate Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for Performance and Personnel Management

Holiday Season Merrimack Making

Aneesh Chopra — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:34:36 +0000

On December 8th, along with Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Shikhar Ghosh, I hosted my second “Entrepreneurs’ Town Hall” to hear first hand about the challenges and opportunities confronting founders on “Main Street” (read about the first Town Hall here, or check out the video). Nearly 100 entrepreneurs from the Merrimack Valley area in northern Massachusetts participated as we gathered to celebrate the launch of an exciting new philanthropic initiative—the Merrimack Valley Sandbox, an effort designed to foster an innovation ecosystem through the region’s leading universities and community colleges.

Endowed with a $5M grant from famed entrepreneur Desh Deshpande (who also serves as Co-Chair of the National Council for Innovation & Entrepreneurship), the Sandbox will provide leadership training, seed funding and capacity-building support to organizations and individuals in the region.

We will post video from the town hall soon, but here are a few highlights:

Clean Tech Entrepreneurs Commercialize Federal Research: I heard from Peter Vandermeulen, CEO of the local startup 7AC Technologies, who shared his favorable experience working with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab. Although it took nearly a year to finalize, Peter was pleased to have had the opportunity to commercialize technology that he posits could cut in half the use of energy for heating and cooling of buildings. His advice on how we might improve our commercialization efforts was to evaluate the process of determining when an exclusive license might be granted to “kick-start” an entrepreneurial venture. I’ve taken that message back to our team for consideration.

Open Government Fuels Entrepreneurship: One of the highlights of my trip was hearing from Conor White-Sullivan, CEO of Localocracy. A graduate of UMass-Amherst, this charismatic entrepreneur talked about his startup’s recent partnership with the Boston Globe to link open government platforms with local media. His idea is a new model of civic engagement—one in which identified members of the community express their views and invite public participation on key issues facing the neighborhood, came to him during a 1-credit course in school, he said. His approach was, of course, music to my ears, as it has been a high Obama Administration priority to step up efforts to leverage technology for citizen participation. His request was to simplify access to voter registration data, as that is the “fuel” for his identity system. I’ve tasked our open government team to conduct due diligence on this matter.

Importance of SBIR as a Vehicle for Early Stage Capital: Several entrepreneurs at the forum spoke of the advantages of the Small Business Investment Research program as a source of capital at the stage of business maturation when it is difficult to gain access to capital. Thaddeus Fulford-Jones, CEO of Locately, spoke of the ease with which he won a National Science Foundation SBIR grant within 5-6 months of applying. But it was a story told by Robert Goldberg—a Partner at Neumitra—that commanded my most immediate attention.

Robert expressed concern that his primary information source on SBIR grant opportunities, SBIR.gov, was down for maintenance with a message alerting visitors that it would be months before the site could be re-launched. This was unfortunate as it meant he had to sift through each Federal agency’s solicitations page to learn of opportunities.

Thanks to the leadership of NSF’s new Director, Dr. Subra Suresh, and his terrific team, including Tom Peterson, Kesh Narayanan, and Cheryl Albus, the site went live last week.

I was encouraged by the degree to which our Nation’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the Merrimack Valley—a great reminder that innovation flourishes in all corners of our country if we nurture the right components of the ecosystem—and I am keen to address the myriad concerns that emerged throughout the discussion. In that spirit, I wish to extend my deepest thanks to the Deshpande Foundation, which helped arrange for our town hall, and to the entrepreneurs and ecosystem partners who participated. Happy holidays to all, and here is to an innovative and entrepreneurial New Year!

Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Congress Grants Broad Prize Authority to All Federal Agencies

Tom Kalil and Robynn Sturm — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:24:37 +0000

The America COMPETES Act passed by Congress today provides all agencies with broad authority to conduct prize competitions as called for by President Obama in his 2009 Strategy for American Innovation. By giving agencies a simple and clear legal path, the America COMPETES Act will make it dramatically easier for agencies to use prizes and challenges to spur innovation, solve tough problems, and advance their core missions.

In a world of widely dispersed knowledge, prizes and challenges are an essential tool for every agency’s toolkit. As the co-founder of Sun Microsystems Bill Joy once famously said, “No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” This fact calls for a fundamental shift in the way an institution solves problems. Prizes and challenges are part of the solution.

A recent McKinsey report found that the private sector and a new generation of philanthropists are embracing prizes. Catalyzed by new crowd sourcing technologies, investments in prize competitions have increased significantly in recent years. According to the study, more than 60 prizes of at least $100,000 each made their debuts from 2000 to 2007, representing almost $250 million in new prize money.

As the Wall Street Journal recently concluded, “These prizes have proliferated because they actually work.” Specifically, well-designed prizes allow the sponsor to dramatically increase the number and diversity of minds tackling a tough problem, to articulate a bold goal without having to predict the team or approach that is most likely to succeed, and to only pay for results.

Despites these benefits, the public sector have been slow to reap the benefits of open innovation strategies. The Obama Administration is committed to change that.

On his very first day in office, the President set out new principles for the way government works. Recognizing that the problems of the 21st century are too great to be solved by government alone, he called for an “all hands on deck” approach that taps the “distributed intelligence” of the Nation.

In September 2009, in his Strategy for American Innovation, President Obama expanded on these principles to explicitly call on agencies to increase their use of prizes and challenges to solve tough problems. In March, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum to all agency heads affirming the Administration’s commitment to this problem-solving approach and providing a policy and legal framework to guide agencies in using prizes to stimulate innovation to advance their core missions. And, in September 2010, the White House and the General Services Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs, innovators, and citizen solvers can compete for prestige and prizes by providing novel solutions to tough national problems, large and small.

As a result, 2010 has witnessed widespread government experimentation with prizes. In its first 3 months, Challenge.gov featured 57 challenges from 27 agencies across the Executive Branch, generating novel solutions for childhood obesity, advanced vehicle technologies, financing for small businesses, Type One Diabetes, and many other national priorities.

The prize authority in the America COMPETES Act will further unleash the public sector’s ability to leverage prizes and challenges to spur innovation. Stay tuned to Challenge.gov for new developments in the New Year!

In the meantime, you can read more about today’s passage of the America COMPETES Act on the OSTP blog and find the full text of the final bill here.

Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Robynn Sturm is Advisor for Open Innovation to the Deputy Director