Collaborating for Better Design, Technology, and User Experience
Overview of initiatives across Federal government that focus on IT design, development and accessibility.
Innovation
News and Events on Innovation
128 posts
Emerging Tech and Open Data for a More Open and Accountable Government
Open data and emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence and distributed ledgers, such as blockchain—hold vast potential to transform public services held back by bureaucracy and outdated IT systems.
The Data Briefing: Ten Years of Digital Transformation—Lessons Learned
Since 2007, a major consulting firm has conducted an annual survey on organizations’ “Digital IQ.” In the ten years of organizations grappling with digital transformation, what has been learned?
VA Innovators Network Program: Ahead of the Curve in Healthcare Innovation
VA Innovators Network Program Selected as FedHealth IT Innovation Award Winner This month, FedHealth IT announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Innovators Network Program was selected as a 2017 recipient of the FedHealthIT Innovation Award. FedHealth IT recognized 25 Federal Health
Advice From Digital Thought Leaders
Many know that digital tools have become indispensable for connecting with many audiences—but we also know that what’s available in the digital realm is always changing. So how do you know what tools are best for your purpose? And how do you plan for your organization’s digital future when the pace of change is so
Fostering Medical Innovation: A Plan for Digital Health Devices
It is incumbent upon FDA to ensure that we have the right policies in place to promote and encourage safe and effective innovation that can benefit consumers, and adopt regulatory approaches to enable the efficient development of these technologies. By taking an efficient, risk-based approach to our regulation, FDA can promote health through the creation
The Data Briefing: the Promise – and Perils – of Artificial Emotional Intelligence
People are quick to treat computer programs as being more aware than computer code could be. However, can computer programs – especially chatbots – have a significant effect on people? Especially people suffering from depression or anxiety? A recent academic study shows some promising results from using a chatbot as a complement to a human therapist.
Opening Public Services to Artificial Intelligence Assistants
“Hey, Computer, how do I access my public services?” Citizens will soon be able to ask their Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA) this question through an Emerging Citizen Technology open-sourced pilot program. The purpose of the initiative is to guide dozens of federal programs make public service information available through automated, self-service platforms for the home
Want to Expand Your Innovation Base? Dive In, Run a Challenge, and Listen to Your Customers
The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is a small agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whose mission is to increase the interoperability and use of electronic health records and health IT. We don’t have the funding and personnel of larger agencies, and, for the most part, this is fine. The
The Data Briefing: How to Best Prepare Federal Government Datasets for Chatbots
Forbes magazine recently ran an article showcasing six handy mobile apps that were built using federal government open data. The apps range from the Alternative Fueling Station Locator to ZocDoc (a doctor locator). What I especially like about the Forbes article is that the author describes the federal government data sets behind each app. There
Cybersecurity: Protecting Manufacturing Technology and Innovation
Recently a segment on my favorite morning news program stopped me in my tracks. The young and attractive hosts (why are they always so young and attractive?) were demonstrating new appliances including a smart refrigerator. The fridge was equipped with all kinds of high-tech features including touch screen displays, a camera inside that allows you
Federal Pilot to Integrate Public Services Into Intelligent Personal Assistants
The demand for more automated, self-service access to United States public services, when and where citizens need them, grows each day—and so do advances in the consumer technologies like Intelligent Personal Assistants designed to meet those challenges. The U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA)
DigitalGov Year in Review: Our Top Blogs, Resources, and Writers for 2016
DigitalGov had a pretty great year in 2016, and that was largely due to a bevy of talented and dedicated writers from over 50 agencies and departments across all 3 branches of the federal government (Thank you!!!). Below, we’ll review some program highlights from the last year, including our top-viewed articles and resources, and tell you how you, too, can contribute to DigitalGov in 2017.
The Future of Technology at GSA
The potential to transform government and impact the lives of Americans is tremendous. Our country needs the government to work well, and technology is the key to that.
Sharing Public Service Visions for Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence
I’m taking a break from sorting through dozens of concepts from federal agencies about how they want to use artificial intelligence and virtual reality for citizens in the coming months in order to share with you just some of these groundbreaking initiatives of tomorrow that can be explored at a DigitalGov University workshop this week.
White House Electric Vehicle Datathon: Unlocking New Opportunities through Data
The White House is hosting its first-ever Electric Vehicle Datathon, and nominations for participation are now open. Don’t miss your chance to join the discussion!
New Trademark App Open Source Code on GitHub
Improving the way the government delivers information technology (IT) solutions to its customers isn’t just a goal, it’s our mission. We at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office know that by publishing our open source code, the public can help us come up with new and better IT solutions. In advance of the new Federal
Meeting Patients Where They Are: Liberating Clinical Trials Data Under the Cancer Moonshot
Cancer clinical trials are a critically important step on the pathway for new or improved treatments to make their way to patients in clinics and hospitals in towns and cities across the country. Patients and their loved ones are relying on these rigorous studies to determine whether promising new therapies and approaches might extend how
Hualapai Public Safety Meet Old and New Challenges Through Technology
How can a place be remote and virtually unpopulated, yet constantly full of thousands of people and teeming with activity? It certainly seems impossible, but that is exactly the situation at Grand Canyon West (GCW), home of the Hualapai indigenous Indian Tribe and the famous Skywalk.
The Data Briefing: Four Steps to Becoming a Data-Driven Organization
As the Federal government agencies begin the digital transformation journey, becoming a data-driven organization is even more vital. What does it mean to become a data-driven organization? According to one definition, “[a] data-driven company is an organization where every person who can use data to make better decisions, has access to the data they need
