NYCEDC and Civic Hall Labs Launch @NYCBigApps 2017
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), in collaboration with Civic Hall Labs (CHL), this week announced the official launch of the NYC BigApps 2017 competition.
NYC BigApps is the City’s premier civic technology competition that has already awarded close to a half-million dollars in prize money and generated more than USD 10 million in seed funding for tech projects that help and support New Yorkers.
This year’s winners will receive cash awards, marketing and promotion, acceptance into a civic accelerator program, and will be eligible to be piloted on hundreds of LinkNYC kiosks across the all five boroughs.
NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer told us “The BigApps competition is fueled by the same entrepreneurial spirit and civic engagement that has always propelled New York City forward,. We’re proud to partner with Civic Hall Labs this year to solicit thoughtful solutions that will improve the lives of our city’s youth, senior, and immigrant populations. As we kick off our 2017 competition, we’re calling on all developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and residents to find ways in which technology can make New York City an even better place to live and work.”
The NYC BigApps 2017 competition has three main challenge areas focused on improving the quality of life for New York City youth (13-18), seniors (65+), and immigrants:
- Transportation: Leverage technology and public data to increase ease of use and expand travel options for youth, seniors, and immigrants.
- Knowledge: Provide youth, seniors, and immigrants with better access to accurate, timely, and user-friendly information in order to make more informed decisions for their daily lives (i.e. at home, at work, at school, in public).
- Community Resiliency: Build strong, resilient communities by fostering more inclusion and connection for youth, seniors, and immigrants where they live, learn, work, and play.
NYCEDC partnered with Civic Hall Labs, a research and development nonprofit that collaboratively designs and builds technology for public good to produce the BigApps 2017 competition. Civic Hall Labs, in partnership with a wide range of agencies and community organizations, has anchored each challenge in the expressed needs of community end-users and the social practitioners who serve them, and will provide this year’s participants access to design and product development workshops and mentors between January and the end of April when submissions are due.
Andrew Rasiej, President and Co-Founder of Civic Hall Labs said “BigApps is key to New York City being the capital of technology innovation that focuses on helping people and improving our neighborhoods and our city. Civic Hall Labs is thrilled to be working with NYCEDC on expanding the competition and making it even more accessible to all New Yorkers.”
As part of the competition, there will be seven free product development workshops with interactive, hands-on learning experiences, expert speakers, and panel discussions. These workshops will offer training in design thinking, user research, and product development and help catalyze the ideation and prototyping process for applicants with little to no experience in technology. This year’s Grand Prize winners will receive cash prizes and admission into CivicX, Civic Hall Labs’ civic accelerator program. The competition’s lead prize sponsor is Microsoft and there will also be a Judge’s Choice Award where a winning app will have the opportunity to pilot on LinkNYC tablets throughout the City’s five boroughs. LinkNYC staff will provide mentorship and guidance to BigApps participants who design their submissions with Link kiosks in mind.
Jen Hensley, General Manager of LinkNYC said “LinkNYC was designed from the start to be a platform for civic innovation, and we are proud to partner with NYCEDC and Civic Hall for the BigApps 2017 competition. One of this year’s winning apps will get the opportunity to be piloted on more than 600 LinkNYC kiosks across the City, which are used tens of thousands of times every week by New Yorkers and visitors from around the world.”
NYC BigApps 2017 Key Dates
Product Development Workshops: Every Two Weeks Starting January 24, 2017
Submission Deadline: April 30, 2017
Final Pitch Event / Winners Announcement: Late May 2017
Past competitions have resulted in the development of viable, marketable tech products that solve for civic challenges, such as 2015 Winner Addicaid’s addiction recovery app, which received 300,000 downloads in its first year; 2015 Winner JustFix.nyc, which built an online toolkit for New Yorkers in neglectful housing situations; and 2014 Winner Heat Seek, which aims to tackle NYC’s heating crisis and has partnered with advocacy organizations to install its sensors in buildings across New York City.
Follow DailyDOOH