COVID-19 TOPx Momentum Continues with the Open Data for Good Challenge

Authors: Kristen Honey PhD, PMP, Chief Data Scientist, Executive Director of InnovationX, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH); Drew Zachary, Deputy Chief Data Officer for Innovation, US Department of Commerce, and Managing Director, Census Open Innovation Labs; Rachel Melo, Communications Specialist, InnovationX
Summary: Following the COVID-19 TOPx Technology Development Sprint, HHS and the U.S. Census Bureau continue data-driven collaboration through the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge for the American public to develop digital tools using government data. Cash prizes total $100,000 for health and COVID-19 solutions.
The U.S. Government is prioritizing equity and the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) by driving innovation with data and communities. Through the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge, the HHS InnovationX team (formerly the HHS CTO team) and the public will unleash the value of open data through digital tools. This builds on the U.S. Census Bureau’s "The Opportunity Project" (TOP) sprint model which combines human-centered design techniques with agile technology development sprints to encourage industry to rapidly build digital tools from open government data for real-world impact.
The Open Data for Good Grand Challenge is engaging technologists and community members to build digital tools that put COVID-19 open data at the fingertips of citizens, businesses, and public health officials nationwide. The Open Data for Good Grand Challenge opened on September 13th and closes on October 24th 2021 with three focus areas:
  • Health and COVID-19: $100K in cash prizes from HHS and Census Bureau.
  • Climate, Resilience, and the Natural Environment: $160K in cash prizes from the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Census Bureau.
  • Society, Economy, and the Built Environment: $50K in cash prizes from Census Bureau.
Per the Challenge.gov announcement, the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge is open to American citizens and U.S. companies who either:
  • Participated or participate in TOP or TOPx sprints in 2020 or 2021 (between the dates of 1/1/2020 and 10/24/2021), including the COVID-19 TOPx tech sprint.
  • Follow TOP methodology via TOP’s public product development toolkit to create a user-centered digital tool using federal open data.
HHS will award up to $100,000 for exceptional digital tools in the Health and COVID-19 category, with up to five winning teams receiving prizes of $20,000 each. The entire prize purse across all three focus areas is $310,000. At the end of this challenge, the Census Bureau will host a virtual conference where prizes will be awarded to recognize the most creative and impactful uses of open data in digital tools that solve problems important to communities.
The Health and COVID-19 category has an intentionally broad scope. HHS is especially interested in digital tools that will help alleviate health disparities, advance SDoH solutions, and/or ingest, harmonize, report, and analyze COVID-19 diagnostic data – including at-home testing results. For example, innovation and technology products might collect, harmonize, share, or visualize data in ways that empower vulnerable communities or those disproportionally impacted by the pandemic. Participating teams may choose to build digital tools from open data for:
  • Community Innovation: Help patients, caregivers, and the critical community-based and non-traditional health stakeholders such as those in the housing, food, education, transportation, and social well-being spaces make key operational decisions related to COVID-19.
  • State, County, Tribal and Territorial Solutions: Help state and local public health authorities track and understand the virus and/or improve wellbeing in their communities.
  • Non-Laboratory Testing Data: Help consumers and businesses track testing data from tests outside of lab settings such as in schools, nursing homes, at home, and in other non-lab based settings.
Building Upon Past Success
HHS’ history with TOP goes back to 2016. The HHS InnovationX team first adopted the TOP model in 2018 with the “TOP Health" Tech Sprint to unleash the power of Open Data and artificial intelligence (AI) for cancer clinical trials and Lyme disease innovation.
In late 2020, HHS launched a virtual innovation sprint – the COVID-19 At-Anywhere Diagnostics “Design-a-thon” – to use HealthData.gov and COVID-19 diagnostic data standards to facilitate the reporting of testing results and inform a data-driven pandemic response. This Design-a-thon crowdsourced ideas from over 700 software developers, designers, and COVID-19 subject matter experts. From over 30 capstone projects submitted, Design-a-thon judges selected 16 winning teams. This innovation sprint helped HHS to engage teams for future TOP sprints.
In January 2021, the winning Design-a-thon teams moved onto the COVID-19 TOPx Technology Development Sprint. HHS modified the usual TOPx playbook with two changes to the methodology:
  1. Accelerated Build Cycle: condensed the usual 12- to 14-week cycle into eight weeks because time is of the essence during the pandemic.
  2. Radical Transparency: embraced an “open by default” approach and worked in the open with the public, so that all stakeholders — beyond only TOPx sprint participants — could observe the demos, office hours, and all activities.
What remained consistent with past TOP sprints was the COVID-19 TOPx kickoff event, product demos, and a COVID-19 TOPx Solutions Showcase to feature teams, their tools, and their impact. Solutions Showcase demos can be viewed on the HHS crowdsourcing platform for open innovation.
This past year of COVID-19 data-driven innovation and collaboration will now crescendo with the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge. This challenge is a full-length, interagency TOP sprint that will build upon prior COVID-19 Design-a-thon and TOPx sprints to deliver COVID-19 and health solutions in collaboration with industry and non-government sectors.
Submit Your Solution!
We are so excited that the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge using the proven TOP model with cash prizes for winning submissions. There is no limit to the solutions that technologists can conceive!
The challenge submission deadline is October 24th. Don’t miss out on your chance to use open data for good and win prize money to scale your solution.