New Startup Launches At TechCrunch Disrupt — The United States Of America

Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer

“We are looking for a few good men and women to serve their country and code, design and kick a–.”

That was the message sent Wednesday by the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park, at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City.

Park along with Chief Information Officer, Steven VanRoekel, introduced their new Digital Government Strategy, which they’ve dubbed a 21st century platform to better serve the American people.

According to their presentation, the strategy sets out to accomplish three things:

1. Enable the American people and an increasingly mobile workforce to access high-quality digital government information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device.
2. Ensure that as the government adjusts to this new digital world, the opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure and affordable ways is seized.
3. Unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across our Nation and improve the quality of services for the American people.

The government has a lot of data.  More than you can imagine.  This initiative is all about releasing that data, being more transparent with it and putting it to better use.

Park and VanRoekel outlined their five main initiatives in their presentation.  They are:

1. MyGov — A single site for everything government.  Park referenced that there are 14 different sites people need to use for student loans.  MyGov would create a streamlined and intuitive way for citizens to access all of their content.
2. The 20% Campaign — Think PayPal for foreign aid.  As it stands now, believe it or not, contract workers in Afghanistan, for instance, are paid cash.  Turning these payments into electronic transfers would limit fraud and abuse.
3. RFP-EZ — A processing platform to allow government to interact with startups.
4. Blue Button for America –A resource that will help people utilize their own health records — current medications and drug allergies, claims and treatment data, and lab reports — to improve their health and healthcare.
5. Open Data Initiatives — Aims to liberate government data and voluntarily-contributed corporate data to fuel entrepreneurship, improve American lives, and create jobs.  Park provided an example of government making their data open in the past.  When the government made GPS freely available, numerous private sector innovations became possible, including navigation systems and precision crop farming, creating public benefit and economic growth.

If you would like to learn more or get involved go here.

And check out the energetic presentation below.  It is very much worth watching.