The Innovation Movement

“Apps for Innovation” Developer Contest
Sponsored by The Innovation Movement

“Apps for Innovation” is the Innovation Movement’s first annual software application development contest. The Innovation Movement is a coalition of Americans who believe innovation is the key to reviving the global economy and creating new American jobs. We believe that Congress and the private sector need to work together to support policies that stimulate America’s innovation economy and promote entrepreneurship.

Congratulations to the Contest Winner!

GovPulse
App Platform: Ruby on Rails
App Link: http://govpulse.us  

App Description:
GovPulse makes the Federal Register accessible. Daily importing the full text of the latest Federal Register and adding geo-location, citation analysis and powerful searching. Requests for information, proposed and final rules are all searchable by date and federal agency. By deeply linking directly to Regulations.gov, GovPulse empowers citizens to participate in the making if regulations that affect their lives. Greater transparency enables deeper discussion and leads to better regulations that benefit everyone.

App Advancement:
Every day the thousands of employees of the U.S Government go to work for the people of the country. Each day agencies release hundreds of proposed rules and regulations, meeting notices, final rules, and changes to existing rules in the form of the Federal Register. In their current format they are difficult to find and to process in meaningful ways, GovPulse changes this. Transparency into the regulations and proposed regulations ensure avid public discussion of the initiatives that directly influence innovation. By making this data searchable and easily used GovPulse ensures that innovation will not be stifled.

2nd Place Finalist

Innovation Movement Network
App Platform: Twalky
App Link: http://www.twalky.com/groups/@/InnovationMovementBeta  

App Description:
Our real-time application is built on Twalky platform and contains 3 networks: 1. Ideas/Issues 2. Events and 3. City Rankings. Each of these sections can be commented, rated (up to 5 stars) and ranked (between the comments) by anyone. It has a social element where each member/user can see the comments of all her friends/follows in each tab for each network. Furthermore, the app can become a platform as it is fully customizable (e.g. UI, functionality and URL) and anyone can build apps on top of this app. With the Grand Prize money, we plan to help Innovation Movement on this front.

App Advancement:
We used crowdsourcing of comments (qualitative) and ratings (qualitative) to illustrate how innovation and entrepreneurial activity are at work across America. Under “City Rankings”, we have innovation rankings between US cities and also ratings of each city’’s innovations. Similarly, under the “Events” network, it highlights the cities that are active in entrepreneurial activity.

In addition, we have formed an ‘Ideas for the Issues’ network where anyone could provide suggestions (that can be rated and ranked by anyone) that help resolve each of these issues. These ideas can help the members of the Innovation Movement advance policy goals that support innovation.

3rd Place Finalist

OnlineTownhalls
App Platform: Web-based application
App Link: http://onlinetownhalls.com/debates/246

App Description:
OnlineTownhalls is a Web-based application that can engage thousands of citizens in a single conversation to discuss any of our nation’s toughest problems. Today’s issues are complex, and solutions require interdisciplinary collaboration. OnlineTownhalls uses conversation mapping to visualize the pros and cons of competing ideas. The technology rewards innovative thinking by measuring the credibility of each participant over time. It’s not enough to merely identify popular ideas; structured peer review can ensure their viability. Large scale problems are often caused by thousands of unintentional, individual actions; harnessing collective intelligence through deliberate conversations is a powerful way to create solutions.

App Advancement:
The OnlineTownhalls application (OTH) provides structure for in-depth and logical conversations on a very large scale. This allows leaders of the movement to identify the strongest ideas from among its members so that those ideas can be converted into action. The Innovation Movement can also use OTH to put a bright spotlight on existing policies and regulations, which stifle innovation, by allowing them to be debated line-by-line. This transparent marketplace of ideas can reveal the weaknesses of these policies and provide highly competitive alternatives that make a strong case for innovation.