Considered to be one of the nation's most prestigious public service prizes, Innovations Awards honor exemplary initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels that provide creative solutions to pressing social and economic problems. We are challenged to provide opportunities for all Americans to prosper and to help solve their communities' problems. These awards exemplify government working to do this. The Center for Technology in Government designs, tests, and evaluates prototype systems before agencies commit resources and political capital to adopt them on a larger scale. The Center thus serves as an incubator for public-sector innovation.
Modern technology offers many opportunities to improve government.
But adapting technology to change long-standing government practices can be prohibitively expensive. Public officials frequently are unaware of how these technologies could vastly improve their programs. And the process of introducing new technologies can be so difficult that by the time they are finally adopted, they are already obsolete. To address these problems, New York State created the Center for Technology in Government in 1993. It carries out pilot projects in partnerships involving government, high-tech corporations, and university faculty and students.