The Power of Many: Crowdsourcing our Way to Solutions
By Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer, HHS
Greetings! Today, I had the pleasure of hanging out at a remarkable forum focused on problem-solving held at the National Institutes of Health. Many of you are probably thinking, “Hey, we solve problems every day – what’s new about that?” Yet each of us is frequently searching for new ideas and people who might have unique talents, experiences, and expertise that could hold the key to unlocking new approaches to problems. The “Crowdsourcing” Forum held today shines a light on opportunities in science, health, communications, and education to use information technology and the power of reaching out to large audiences as a means to find innovative answers to some of our toughest questions.
As I look across HHS, I see remarkable change underway in how we undertake problem-solving in service of our organization’s mission objectives. Information technology, open access to data, and use of social networks are clearly opening broad new horizons of innovation and discovery. Our emphasis on the Open Government principles of transparency, collaboration, and participation are embodied in this approach to our work. Crowdsourcing practices coupled with the use of challenges and competitions that award prizes for problem-solving are powerful innovation levers.
Today, we are unveiling our HHS Challenge Toolkit website that provides HHSers with experience, guidance documents, best practices, templates and other tools, along with a “winner’s circle” that celebrates successful challenge and solutions providers. It’s our hope that these tools will help HHS innovators tap into the “power of many” across the country to advance health and well-being. Check out these tools and let us know what you think!
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