UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State, through its participation in the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service (NTIS) to enter into a Joint Venture Partnership. The Hub will join 34 other leaders in information technology and services selected for the Partnership to promote economic growth and 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. “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.”
Federal government agencies collect an enormous amount of useful data concerning the economy, population, trade, and climate. However, many barriers exist for efficiently using, sharing, analyzing and gaining insights from these national data resources, either alone or in combination with non-federal data. Through the NTIS Joint Venture Partnership, Penn State will work with partners to advance federal big data priorities.
“We want to accelerate the data innovation process by quickly connecting private sector experts with agencies striving to create smart cities, deliver critical public services, enhance operational excellence or improve accessibility and interoperability among national data sets,” said NTIS Director Avi Bender.
Through the Partnership, Penn State and its collaborators in the Hub will compete to work with NTIS to deliver groundbreaking data projects across federal agencies. The Northeast Hub is one of four regional Big Data Hubs established by the National Science Foundation in 2015 that accelerate data-driven innovation through public-private partnerships aimed at addressing societal challenges.
René Bastón, Executive Director of the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub noted that the Hub's “mission of aligning partners to develop data-driven solutions to societal challenges is extremely complementary to the NTIS’s goals – emphasizing agile partnerships to deliver innovative data products and services for the public good.”
The effort builds on the work conducted in Penn State's Center for Big Data Analytics and Discovery Informatics. Researchers in the Center are working to drive decision making and scientific discovery in nearly every aspect of society by identifying actionable knowledge in large data sets.
The collaboration of industry, academic, and non-profit leaders is expected to lead to innovative platforms, tools, and platforms that increase efficiency in managing data. Bender added, “By working on challenging data problems, NTIS JVPs will be in a position to leverage spin-off benefits through improvements to their data products and services.”
Learn more about the Joint Venture Partnership by viewing the Northeast Big Data Hub's announcement.