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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • DOE Vehicle Data Challenge Fuels Innovation

    Posted by Cristin Dorgelo and Ian Kalin on April 11, 2013 at 4:51 PM EDT

    Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the winners of the Apps for Vehicles Challenge.  The competition challenged developers and entrepreneurs to demonstrate how the open data available about most vehicles can be used to improve vehicle safety, fuel efficiency, and comfort.  DOE awarded New York-based Dash the Judges’ Prize and Michigan-based MyCarma the Popular Choice prize. Green Button Gamer, based in Massachusetts, won the Safety Innovation award and Fuel Economy Coach from Georgia received the Fuel Efficiency Innovation award. 

    Many people don’t think about data when they are filling up their gas tanks.  But the majority of American cars have onboard data-systems that can help people in new and undiscovered ways.  That’s why the Energy Department launched the Apps for Vehicles Challenge during the first-ever Energy Datapalooza last year—to spur innovators to create new technologies that improve safety and fuel efficiency. 

    These vehicle data systems exist because of a 1996 regulation and subsequent industry standard on emissions from vehicles. Today, when a car is inspected for compliance with those standards, mechanics simply plug in a reader to a digital port that is usually hidden under the steering wheel. 

    But what’s especially exciting for innovators is that those onboard diagnostics ports actually contain much more information than simply emissions data, including information about brake positions, fuel tank levels, and steering wheel positions—all of which could potentially be used to fuel new consumer applications, products, features, and services.

    In just a few short months, the finalists for the Apps for Vehicles Challenge demonstrated what could be done by empowering people with access to data from their own vehicles. For example, they created new tools to measure individualized fuel consumption, expose underlying details beyond the generalized “check engine light,” recommend personalized route optimization options, offer financial advice on the purchase of a new car, or send text messages through an opt-in service when teenage family members drive over the speed limit. 

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  • Working Together to Combat Human Trafficking

    Posted by Valerie Jarrett and Todd Park on April 11, 2013 at 11:58 AM EDT

    This article is cross-posted on the White House blog

    Yesterday, we hosted the first-ever White House Forum to Combat Human Trafficking. The event brought together leaders from government, the private sector, advocates and survivors, faith leaders, law enforcement, and academia to talk about what we can do, together, to end human trafficking.

    We took time to honor the stories and lives of brave survivors. We noted the great progress we’ve made against this grave injustice at the national and grassroots levels.  We honored the recipients of the first Presidential award for those who have led the way in fighting human trafficking. And we put our heads together to come up with more solutions that we can get to work on right away. Because even one life devastated by trafficking is one too many.  That’s why President Obama’s administration is working with partners around the country and the world to eradicate human trafficking.

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  • From Lab to Market: DOE's America’s Next Top Energy Innovator Program

    Posted by Erica Pincus and Doug Rand on April 5, 2013 at 1:33 PM EDT

    Energy_Vorbek_2013

    Testing materials in the lab at Vorbeck Materials Corp. (Photo by Vorbeck Materials Corp)

    Last week, the Department of Energy launched an expanded version of its popular America’s Next Top Energy Innovator Program—which, since 2011, has unleashed the National Laboratories’ unlicensed patents for use by startups looking to build their businesses and bring energy technologies from the lab to the marketplace. The revamped program expands the class of eligible startups to include all companies that are less than five years old, have fewer than 50 employees, and have received less than $5 million in funding since incorporation. 

    The announcement advances the Administration’s Startup America initiative to promote high-growth entrepreneurship and follows a recent speech at Argonne National Laboratory in which the President emphasized the importance of energy innovation, saying “right now, few areas hold more promise for creating good jobs and growing our economy than how we use American energy.” 

    Those interested in taking part in the Program—which makes National Laboratories’ unlicensed patents available to startups at a reduced fee of $1,000 for up to three patents—can browse available patents through DOE’s online Energy Innovation Portal.

    Below, Christy Martin (Director of Development for Vorbeck Materials) and Phil Roberts (CEO of California Lithium Battery)—two participants in the first round of the America’s Next Top Energy Innovator Challenge—share their experiences with the innovative DOE program.

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  • President Obama Launches the “BRAIN” Initiative

    Posted by Becky Fried on April 2, 2013 at 3:12 PM EDT

    President Barack Obama is introduced by Dr. Francis Collins

    President Barack Obama is introduced by Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health, at the BRAIN Initiative event in the East Room of the White House, April 2, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

    Today in the East Room of the White House, President Obama launched the Administration’s BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative—a bold new research effort to unlock mysteries of the human mind and advance the President’s vision for creating jobs and building a thriving middle class by investing in R&D and Innovation.

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  • Students Speak: The Power of STEM

    Posted by Becky Fried on March 28, 2013 at 3:56 PM EDT

    This article was originally published on the White House Blog.

    Earlier this month, President Obama met with 40 of the nation’s top scientists and engineers—discoverers of new drug candidates to treat common cancers; inventors of tools to help surgeons in the operating room; developers of complex algorithms that can help robots navigate; and more. All of these innovators were finalists in the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search competition, and all of them are still in high school.

    These students are living proof that with the right skills, tools, and opportunities, innovation and discovery can happen at any age. That’s why the Obama Administration is placing a stronger emphasis than ever on equipping the next generation of American innovators in science, technology, engineering, and math—the “STEM” fields.

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  • Calling all Innovators: Demo @ the Next Health Datapalooza

    Posted by Todd Park and Bryan Sivak on March 25, 2013 at 9:16 AM EDT

    This article is cross-posted at healthdata.gov.

    “Transformation” is the best description of what is happening in health care right now. We are seeing historic changes in how health care is administered in the United States—with increased focus on quality of care versus just paying for a service. We are seeing changes in how people can enroll in health insurance—with the upcoming establishment of a new market place that will help more people get insured in this country than ever before.  And, we are seeing changes in how people understand and make decisions about their own health—with an increasing number of tools and services becoming available to help individuals access health information and manage their own personal health data. 

    Data is fuel for innovation, and developers and entrepreneurs are key players who can turn that fuel into innovations that matter. That’s why one of the many ways the Federal Government is contributing to the transformation of health care is by unleashing vast amounts of data from the vaults of government, while rigorously protecting privacy. These public data resources, made openly available in machine-readable form, include a broad range of useful information—from comparison data about different health insurance plans, to product recall data from the Food and Drug Administration, to epidemiological data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to scientific information from the National Institutes of Health, and much more. In the hands of developers, innovators, and entrepreneurs, these data are powering game-changing solutions, with much more on the way. 

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