The government has already tapped hidden pockets of innovation throughout the country to solve its greatest problems and can continue to do so through the open government movement, Aneesh Chopra said today at a conference on federal technology and innovation.
“This is an exciting time to be an innovator in America,” the U.S. Chief Technology Officer said during his presentation at Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. “There is now a global movement afoot. It’s about tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of our people to solve the challenges of our day.”
Chopra outlined several ways open government has “applied a bottom-up theory of change” to serve the public with products and services that extend policy and apply tools to solve commercial problems to advance policy agendas.
“We will solve the unsolvable through open innovation and open government.” – Aneesh Chopra.
He upheld the story of Victor Garcia, a Mexican immigrant who came to the U.S. at age 5 and later graduated from a technical institute, as a prime example.
His vehicle design — the Flypmode — was chosen out of 20,000 across the country submitted in response to a call from DARPA for an innovative combat support vehicle design. The design prototype of the first crowd-sourced military vehicle was built by Local Motors and recently presented to President Obama in Pittsburgh.
“He was chosen, not because of his statement of purpose, but because he produced a product according to his peers around the country was best in class,” Chopra said. “There are hidden pockets of innovation throughout this country. There are Victor Garcias in every neighborhood. This is what open government is all about.”
Chopra also detailed the Administration’s Strategy for American Innovation, which focuses on investment in “seed core” objectives such as infrastructure, policy and open government to drive efforts to engage citizens in problem solving efforts. He cited examples such as ensuring first responders have necessary mobile broadband capacity to FDA’s engagement of private sector entrepreneurs as an innovation pathway to new devices for unmet medical needs. It is among a variety of White House initiatives to advance technology and innovation.
“We will solve the unsolvable through open innovation and open government,” Chopra said.