City Innovate, which manages Startup in Residence (STiR), deployed its COVID Challenge Platform in late March — a free “clearinghouse,” it said, aimed at pairing health-care departments and governments with everything they need to fight the coronavirus. Among the takeaways:
• City Innovate officials quickly encountered a key hurdle, co-Executive Director Jay Nath told Techwire. Public-sector officials are currently so busy developing and executing plans to take on the pandemic that their response to the new platform has been muted.
“The challenge that they all face is that they’re strapped for time. To be able to get the necessary sign-offs, sponsorships and be able to architect those needs is really challenging at this point in time,” Nath said. “So, we’re shifting our platform to really recognize that and really try to get interest from governments about supporting them during the recovery period instead of during the crisis.”
• That shift could happen as early as this week, Nath said, indicating the launch wasn’t intended as “a big public splash” but rather “working with a small set of city and county governments and the state.” It’s free for government staff to join; the site’s only visible requirement is an email address.
• The platform — which leverages STiR’s underlying technology — highlights donations, volunteers and “rapid acquisition.” The build took roughly a day and a half, Nath said. It’s the work of City Innovate’s co-CEOs Nath and Kamran Saddique, its Chief Technology Officer Andrew Culver; Vice President Josh Goldstein; and Customer Success Manager Kaitlin Podbielski.
• State and local governments are invited to post needs, for a response from “companies, partners and innovators” as well as through public advertisements. Then, City Innovate will use its contacts and social media links to publicize the needs.
