5 projects take home Igniting Innovation awards
Connecting state and local government leaders
ACT-IAC recognized public sector solutions for their ability to impact and transform government IT.
Five leading-edge government-IT solutions were recognized at the April 25 ACT-IAC Igniting Innovation Showcase and Award event in Washington, D.C.
Attendees used social media to choose an overall Igniting Innovation winner, and a panel of judges gave “Dynamite” awards in four categories, recognizing the top impacters, game changers, transformers and incubators.
The overall Igniting Innovation Award winner went to MyUSCIS, the new digital web service from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The mobile-friendly tool helps USCIS customers navigate the immigration process by providing up-to-date information about the application process and immigration benefits, tools to help with naturalization and citizenship preparation classes, and eventually, the ability to apply for citizenship online.
IdentityTheft.Gov took the impacter award. Developed by the Federal Trade Commission and Lockheed Martin, the mobile-friendly website allows identity theft victims to easily file a complaint with the FTC. Individuals then receive a free personalized recovery plan, adaptable checklist, an affidavit based on the report and the documents needed to alert police, credit bureaus and the IRS.
The game changer award winner, HealthMap by Booz Allen Hamilton and Epidemico, is an online tool that aggregates and monitors more than 200,000 data sources for early disease outbreak detection. It uses official and news reports, eyewitness accounts, public health expert discussions and social media to curate real-time surveillance data on outbreaks, then publish it on a public website and mobile tool. So far, agency partners include the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The transformer winner was the Ares Mobile Biometric Solution, developed by InCadence Strategic Solutions. Ares is a biometric collection and submission platform to give law enforcement near real-time identify information on a suspect. It assembles biometrics, photographs and biographical data and then communicates with records databases on Android-based tablets or smartphones. So far, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is systematically deploying the software.
The incubator award went to the Department of Homeland Security and Cyberskills Management Support Initiative’s PushButtonPD. The tool is an Excel macro workbook that drafts a Federal Position Description and its accompanying human resource forms. It packages standards for duties, tasks, knowledge, skills and abilities as well as position requirements so agencies can easily integrate that information into their HR processes.
Overall, the awards drew 147 nominations, and the judges chose 40 finalists from among IT solutions developed by government agencies, private industry and government-industry partnerships. Those 40 projects were demonstrated at the event where attendees used social media voting to choose the Igniting Innovation winner.
This article was changed April 26 to correct the details of the voting process.
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