On July 22, 2014, the National Press Club hosted Aneesh Chopra, former White House Chief Technology Officer, to discuss his new book new book, Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government. Millennial Action Project President Steven Olikara interviewed Chopra through an inspiring discussion on the state of open innovation in government.
Chopra laid out his “Toolkit for Open Innovation to Transform Government,” relying on open data, impatient convening (inviting the private sector to work collaboratively), challenges and prizes, and attracting talented innovators. He also provided many examples of initiatives using these tools, including the creation of a Veteran’s Job Bank search engine at the end of the first Iraq War, the use of open data from the National Weather Service, and platforms to encourage private innovation like Challenge.gov.
While being interviewed by Olikara, Chopra discussed some of the motivations to draw the “best and brightest” of today’s Millennials into governmental positions and into these innovating roles.
“This is a truly bipartisan effort on closing the innovation gap, there really is no debate between left and right.”
We had a great time following along with everyone who participated on Twitter using the event hashtag #NPCChopra:
"An innovative state goes to root problem, not the processes around the problem." @aneeshchopra #NPCChopra
— Laura (@cogberry) July 22, 2014
"Innovation has two parts. It's a new idea... That scales." -@aneeshchopra #npcchopra pic.twitter.com/RtKHJvru1K — Anthony Shop (@afshop) July 22, 2014
We should think about divide not as right vs left, but open vs closed. #NPCChopra #innovation
— Youth Voices USA (@YouthVoicesUSA) July 22, 2014
"Walmart knows everything you do when you buy shampoo, but we literally don't know anything about cancer care." - @aneeshchopra #npcchopra — Jen Nedeau (@JenNedeau) July 22, 2014
Aneesh Chopra: we need more cross-partisan collaboration on innovation agenda, like Congressional Future Caucus @MActionProject #NPCChopra
— Teryn Norris (@TerynNorris) July 22, 2014
As the first Chief Technology Officer in the United States federal government under President Barack Obama, Chopra led the administration’s efforts in becoming a more “open, tech-savvy government” and praises the bipartisan Congressional Future Caucus as important to moving our government’s innovation agenda in his book. Currently, he is the co-founder and executive vice president of Hunch Analytics, a technology firm focused on improving the productivity of public sectors and the economy through data analytics.
To learn more about Aneesh Chopra or Innovative State, visit his website at www.innovativestate.com.