U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer Chris Vein is working on a plan to create a “government vertical” that takes innovations from throughout federal agencies and scales them across the entire government, including state and local offices.
Speaking at FedScoop’s Citizen Engagement & Open Government Summit Wednesday at the Newseum, Vein said to foster innovation the government needs to create a capacity for change, alter its approach to that of a start-up company and reduce barriers for entry.
One of the strategies for innovation Vein mentioned is to promote the market for data by publishing government data, encouraging free use and building communities that advance the uses of it, along with challenging the private sector to become involved.
“I am focusing on taking the ideas and turning them into repeatable models,” Vein said.
Part of that, he said, is finding ways to take all the ideas from Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra, along with those already used in the private sector, and fostering them into government even if they aren’t always perfect.
“Part of this process will be taking things to the public that aren’t finished products, but then listening to them and fixing issues on the fly to give a better customer-service experience,” he said.
