Investing in Innovations
Accessed from ONC on June 12, 2011
In September 2009, President Obama released his Strategy for American Innovation, calling for agencies to increase their ability to promote and harness innovation by using policy tools such as awards and competitions. The America Competes Act, passed in December 2010, permits any agency head to “carry out a program to award prizes competitively to stimulate innovation.” With this authority, ONC has created the Investing in Innovations (“i2″) program.
Investing in Innovations is a two-year contract with Capital Consulting Corporation and Health 2.0 that will disburse more than $1.9 million in prize money to competition winners in up to 30 challenges. Competition proposals will derive from internal ONC staff and fellow HHS agencies.
ONC believes that competitions have a number of potential benefits. Under the right circumstances, they may allow the government to:
- Establish an important goal without having to choose the approach or the team that is most likely to succeed;
- Pay only for results;
- Increase the number and diversity of the individuals, organizations, and teams that are addressing a particular problem or challenge of national or international significance;
- Stimulate private sector investment that is many times greater than the cash value of the award; and
- Further a Federal agency’s mission by attracting more interest and attention to a defined program, activity, or issue of concern.
The competitions will focus on innovations that support (1) the goals of HITECH and clearing hurdles related to the achievement of widespread Health IT adoption and meaningful use, (2) ONC’s and HHS’ programs and programmatic goals, and (3) the achievement of a nationwide learning health system that improves quality, safety, and/or efficiency of health care.
For questions relating to the Investing in Innovations program, please email Wil Yu.
Additional Resources
- Press Release
HHS and The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology introduce new Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative
Press Release from Department of Health and Human Services on June 8, 2011
Washington, D.C. — The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced today the Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative – a bold new program designed to spur innovations in health IT. The program centers on prizes and competitions to accelerate the development of solutions and communities around key challenges in health IT.
This landmark initiative is the first Administration-wide program using prizes and challenges to advance an agency’s mission made possible by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 4, 2011. The Act invests in innovation through research and development and seeks to improve the competitiveness of the United States.
As part of the initiative’s rollout, ONC has awarded nearly $5 million to the Capital Consulting Corporation (CCC) and Health 2.0 LLC, to fund projects supporting innovations in research and encouraging health IT development through open-innovation mechanisms like prizes and challenges.
“The initiative demonstrates ONC’s recognition of the importance of investing in innovations and provides a platform that will attract an expanded community of innovators to the full range of the agency’s programs. It opens the door to new opportunities for open collaboration from a wide range of diverse individuals and organizations that will increase the national rate of innovation and adoption of health IT as we improve health care of all Americans,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Sc.M., national coordinator for health information technology.
The i2 Initiative will consult stakeholders across the health care sector including hospitals, doctors, consumers, payers, states, employers, advocates, and relevant federal agencies to obtain direct input on execution and to build partnerships.
The core of the i2 Initiative is an effort to use prizes and challenges to facilitate innovation and obtain solutions to identified health IT challenges. Recognizing the promise of prizes and challenges, the President has called on agencies to promote innovation by using such innovation tools to address intractable problems. The use of prizes and competitions is widely regarded as a powerful tool to attract innovators from all walks of life to address hard problems with the added benefit of only rewarding best-in-class work. The approach makes possible rapid response to emerging issues that are difficult to address with more traditional funding approaches.
Examples of health IT competition topics developed in consultation with CCC and Health 2.0 LLC, include the following:
- Applications that allow an individual to securely and effectively share health information with members of his or her social network;
- Applications that generate results for patients, caregivers, and/or clinicians by providing them with access to rigorous and relevant information that can support real needs and immediate decisions;
- Applications that allow individuals to connect during natural disasters and other periods of emergency; and
- Tools that facilitate exchange of health information while allowing individuals to customize the privacy allowances for their personal health records.
Another component of the i2 Initiative will support analysis of the current health IT environment in an effort to track and model clusters of innovation, while simultaneously identifying connections between disparate innovator communities. The effort will identify technology development trends in a fast-moving sector to inform future advisory and policy-making activities.
Capital Consulting Corporation, Health 2.0 LLC, along with other contributors will help provide detailed and up-to-date analysis of relevant, emerging innovations and associated trends that will help ONC and other HHS agencies better understand these developments, as well as the issues that surround them.
ONC recognizes that policies that do not appropriately anticipate technological change can jeopardize success by potentially limiting competition and setting in stone inferior technologies. Accurate and timely information from this phase of the initiative will enable the Federal government to engage in methodical and strategic health IT policies.
“Through the i2 Initiative, ONC is directly supporting innovation in health IT to accelerate the nation’s progress toward a high-performing, adaptive health care system,” said Wil Yu, the special assistant for innovations within ONC.
For more information please visit ONC’s home page at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__onc/1200.
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HHS and The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology introduce new Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative
Press Release from US Department of Health and Human Services on June 8, 2011
Washington, D.C. — The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced today the Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative – a bold new program designed to spur innovations in health IT. The program centers on prizes and competitions to accelerate the development of solutions and communities around key challenges in health IT.
This landmark initiative is the first Administration-wide program using prizes and challenges to advance an agency’s mission made possible by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed into law by President Obama on Jan. 4, 2011. The Act invests in innovation through research and development and seeks to improve the competitiveness of the United States.
As part of the initiative’s rollout, ONC has awarded nearly $5 million to the Capital Consulting Corporation (CCC) and Health 2.0 LLC, to fund projects supporting innovations in research and encouraging health IT development through open-innovation mechanisms like prizes and challenges.
“The initiative demonstrates ONC’s recognition of the importance of investing in innovations and provides a platform that will attract an expanded community of innovators to the full range of the agency’s programs. It opens the door to new opportunities for open collaboration from a wide range of diverse individuals and organizations that will increase the national rate of innovation and adoption of health IT as we improve health care of all Americans,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Sc.M., national coordinator for health information technology.
The i2 Initiative will consult stakeholders across the health care sector including hospitals, doctors, consumers, payers, states, employers, advocates, and relevant federal agencies to obtain direct input on execution and to build partnerships.
The core of the i2 Initiative is an effort to use prizes and challenges to facilitate innovation and obtain solutions to identified health IT challenges. Recognizing the promise of prizes and challenges, the President has called on agencies to promote innovation by using such innovation tools to address intractable problems. The use of prizes and competitions is widely regarded as a powerful tool to attract innovators from all walks of life to address hard problems with the added benefit of only rewarding best-in-class work. The approach makes possible rapid response to emerging issues that are difficult to address with more traditional funding approaches.
Examples of health IT competition topics developed in consultation with CCC and Health 2.0 LLC, include the following:
- Applications that allow an individual to securely and effectively share health information with members of his or her social network;
- Applications that generate results for patients, caregivers, and/or clinicians by providing them with access to rigorous and relevant information that can support real needs and immediate decisions;
- Applications that allow individuals to connect during natural disasters and other periods of emergency; and
- Tools that facilitate exchange of health information while allowing individuals to customize the privacy allowances for their personal health records.
Another component of the i2 Initiative will support analysis of the current health IT environment in an effort to track and model clusters of innovation, while simultaneously identifying connections between disparate innovator communities. The effort will identify technology development trends in a fast-moving sector to inform future advisory and policy-making activities.
Capital Consulting Corporation, Health 2.0 LLC, along with other contributors will help provide detailed and up-to-date analysis of relevant, emerging innovations and associated trends that will help ONC and other HHS agencies better understand these developments, as well as the issues that surround them.
ONC recognizes that policies that do not appropriately anticipate technological change can jeopardize success by potentially limiting competition and setting in stone inferior technologies. Accurate and timely information from this phase of the initiative will enable the Federal government to engage in methodical and strategic health IT policies.
“Through the i2 Initiative, ONC is directly supporting innovation in health IT to accelerate the nation’s progress toward a high-performing, adaptive health care system,” said Wil Yu, the special assistant for innovations within ONC.
For more information please visit ONC’s home page at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__onc/1200.
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