Todd Park on the Culture Of Tech In The U.S. Government

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park talked about the government

that keeps the country moving. Park started by stating that President Obama has championed the concept of "harnessing the power of tech and innovation to make government better and to build a brighter future for America. He used Hurricane Sandy and the Oklahoma tornado response as an his first example. He said that FEMA now uses satellite and aerial imagery along with analytics to find out where needs the most help, leading to faster response times and waning the reliance of on-the-ground inspectors when it comes to housing assistance. Park also went over the other end, saying that the majority of those who applied for disaster aid after Sandy did so "via mobile phone or Internet." "Even folks who didn't actually have access to power and Internet, FEMA inspectors came by with iPads and actually registered them for aid," said Park. Park also brought up Obama's executive order that released large amounts of government data, including health, medicine, science, education, energy, and public safety among other categories as "machine readable free fuel for entrepreneurs to tap in to create new companies and jobs." Park went on to discuss launching a new health insurance marketplace by October 1, saying that a team is "working incredibly hard night and day" to make the site is functional and user-friendly.

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Park closed by saying that applying Silicon Valley techniques to parts of the internal workings of the government has helped the government serve the people more efficiently and effectively.