U.S. CIO Talks Of Opening More Government Datasets To Spur Innovation

If more of the government’s data could be made available to the public, it could spur a new wave of government efficiency and data-driven innovation. That was the message Steven L. VanRoekel, U.S. federal CIO, delivered in his keynote address Tuesday at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cloud Computing and Big Data Workshop here on January 15.

VanRoekel said part of his mission as federal CIO is to figure out how to use cloud computing and government data to have an impact on the lives of U.S. citizens. Saying that he sees “fascinating inflection points in computer science, government and economics,” VanRoekel noted that economically austere times like today often lead to innovation. “The majority of Fortune 500 companies founded in US history were founded in the worst economic times,” he said. Today, “government should be unlocking data to encourage innovation.”