“A Major Milestone for the Data Economy”
Click here for the press release from NTIS
The four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs have been selected by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce to enter into a Joint Venture Partnership. Once finalized, this partnership will provide opportunities for collaborations between the Big Data Hubs and NTIS to deliver groundbreaking data projects across federal agencies.
Federal government agencies collect a superabundance of useful data concerning topics such as the economy, population, trade statistics, climate, and more. However, impactful innovation is constrained by barriers to effective data sharing, analysis, and solution-building. Through the NTIS Joint Venture Partnership, the Big Data Hubs will contribute to advancing federal big data priorities, including promoting U.S. economic growth and enabling operational excellence, by directly connecting federal agencies with data science experts in industry, academia and non-profit organizations to solve substantial challenges in delivering critical public services.
“These joint ventures mark a major milestone for the data economy,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, in a separate press release. “As America’s data agency, the Commerce Department is committed to making it easier for businesses, government, taxpayers and communities to access, analyze and use data to strengthen economic growth and create new jobs. I am confident the partnerships between NTIS and each selected organization will unlock new federal data that will leverage advances in data science, promote software development and accelerate innovation.”
The Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs are a consortium program established by the National Science Foundation in 2015, with a collective mission to accelerate data-driven innovation through public-private partnerships aimed at addressing societal challenges. Based in the four geographic Census regions, the Big Data Hubs are:
- Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub, coordinated by Columbia University
- West Big Data Innovation Hub, coordinated by University of California – Berkeley, University of Washington, and University of California – San Diego
- South Big Data Innovation Hub, coordinated by University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and Georgia Institute of Technology
- Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub, based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Midwest Hub is a collaboration with Indiana University, Iowa State University, University of Michigan, and the University of North Dakota.
“The BD Hubs’ mission of aligning partners to develop data-driven solutions to societal challenges is extremely complementary to the NTIS’ goals – emphasizing agile partnerships to deliver innovative data products and services for the public good,” said René Bastón, Executive Director of the Northeast Hub.
The proposal built upon Regional Big Data Innovation Hub programs that foster cross-sector partnerships. “We’re excited to bring together a diverse team of leaders from industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations – sparking new collaborations and enabling creative solutions,” noted Meredith Lee, Executive Director of the West Big Data Innovation Hub.
The Big Data Hubs were chosen following a rigorous merit review of proposals received in response to the Opportunity to Enter into a Joint Venture with the National Technical Information Service for Data Innovation Support, published in the Federal Register. An additional 34 NTIS JV partners were selected, including leaders in information technology and services such as IBM, HP, Deloitte Consulting, and SRI International.
A list of BD Hubs partner organizations included in the Joint Venture proposal is provided below.
INDUSTRY:
- Agolo
- Connecticut Innovations (CI)
- DataScience, Inc.
- data.world
- Evolve STEAM, LLC
- Front Analytics, Inc.
- Ploughman Analytics
ACADEMIA:
- Big Data Driven Business Analytics Group
- Center for Big Data Analytics and Discovery Informatics at Penn State (CBDA)
- The CyberGIS Center for Advanced Digital and Spatial Studies
- Data Science Institute at Columbia University (DSI)
- DIMACS (Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science) based at Rutgers University
- eScience Institute at the University of Washington
- Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)
- Institute for Data Engineering and Science at Georgia Tech (IDEaS)
- Metadata Research Center at Drexel University
- RENCI (Renaissance Computing Institute at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
NON-PROFIT: