EPA Uses Challenge.gov to Create “Apps for the Environment”

Challenge.gov is an online challenge platform administered by the U.S. General Services Administration designed to “empower the U.S. Government and the public to bring the best ideas and top talent to bear on our nation’s most pressing challenges.  This platform is the latest milestone in the Administration’s commitment to use prizes and challenges to promote innovation.”

EPA is now using this platform to challenge application (i.e., “app”) developers to come up with the “…best, most useful, innovative way to use, show, or combine publically available EPA data in an app.”  The EPA challenge website http://www.epa.gov/appsfortheenvironment/ offers more detail but notes that there are no specifications for precisely what type of app they are looking for – other than that it demonstrate creativity and innovation and be reasonably capable of addressing health or environmental problems through the use of EPA data.  The submission period is open through September 16th.