ACT-IAC Innovation Awards

ACT-IAC is pleased to recognize outstanding examples of the power of innovation solutions in the federal market. Awards are distributed at the annual Emerging Technology and Innovation Conference. Nominations are submitted by federal, state, and local government agencies, private companies, FFRDCs and national labs. ACT-IAC awards are as follows:

 
Innovation Champion Award

The Innovation Champion Award, ACT-IAC’s highest innovation award, recognizes a significant and game-changing innovation.

Congratulations to the 2024 winners!

  • Implementing Efficient AI/ML Solutions to Reduce Revenue Loss for the United States Government, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Dev Technology Group
  • Craniofacial Structural Progression and Other Biometric Initiatives, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Biometric Identity Management
  • An Approach to Independent Verification of End-to-End Verifiable Elections, MITRE Corporation

2023 Winners:

  • Valuable Use Cases for The Quantum Diamond Microscope (QDM), MITRE Corporation
  • Urban Heat Island of Washington DC Virtual Reality (VR) Experience, NOAA Global Systems Lab and NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab, I.M. Systems Group, Inc.
  • Detecting Counterfeit Electronics Using Oracle's Electromagnetic Interference Fingerprinting (EMIF), Oracle

2022 Winners:

  • California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Wildfire Mapping, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) & Google
  • Threat, Identification, Determination, Evaluation (TIDE), Argonne National Laboratory & Department of Homeland Security
  • Shots Fired Azimuth Detector, Octo Consulting
  • High Level Automated Robots (Bots) in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Procurement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
  • Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Next Generation Immersive Augmented Reality Mobile Solution to Improve the Taxpayer Experience, INADEV Corporation
 
Innovation Impact Award

The Innovation Impact Award recognizes an innovation that has had a substantial impact within government technology.

Congratulations to the 2024 winners!

  • VSignals (Veteran Signals), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Experience Office
  • Bob The Closer, U.S. Department of the Interior, Business Integration Office
  • "Voice of the Customer" Deep Dive Analysis Suite (Tools such as GovCXAnalyzer and DigitalCXAnalyzer), General Services Administration
  • NOS3 (NASA Operational Simulator for Small Satellites), National Aeronautics and Space Administration Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program

2023 Winners:

  • Federal Facility Design-Basis Threat Methodology, Argonne National Laboratory & Federal Protective Service
  • Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Extended Reality (XR) Network, Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Blind Rehab In-House Eyeglass Fabrication (BRIEF), Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Auto Documentation Separation and Classification (ADSC) Proof of Concept & Person Centric Identity Services, IntelliBridge & US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
  • Pill Recognition Using Machine Learning, Precise Software Solutions

2022 Winners:

  • Joint Health Information Exchange (Joint HIE), Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) Office
  • State of Colorado, Intelligent Automation for Periodic Reporting, Colorado Department of Human Services & Deloitte
  • Veterans Benefits Administration Automation Platform (VBAAP), IBM
  • VA: Health and Benefits App, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Information and Technology
  • Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) HoloLens Program, Accenture
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid RapidATO Project, CivicActions
  • Veterans Administration (VA) Skin Lesion Classifier, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)
Igniting Innovation Award

Igniting Innovation awards were designed to showcase the best solutions to important problems and help spread them to other federal, state and local government organizations and industry. They were replaced in 2022 with the Champion and Impact awards listed above.

2020 - USA Staffing Onboarding, Office of Personnel Management 
2019 - Lifesaving CT Opioid Detection, Leidos
2018 - HRSA's New Data Analytics Platform, Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS
2017 - USCIS Verification Program, DHS, USCIS, Excella Consulting, and NTIS
2016 - myUSCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security
2015 - NYC Streets Permit Management, NYC Department of Transportation
2014 - How’s My Waterway, EPA and INDUS Corporation

 

Dynamite Award

There were various Dynamite Awards that could be claimed. Impacter recognized the greatest magnitude of innovation results and benefits. Game Changer recognized disruptive innovations that created significant new, or different solutions, or delivered a major breakthrough on a longstanding problem. Transformer recognized the use of existing technology to transform or extend existing capabilities resulting in new or broadened applicability and uses. Incubator recognized an innovation not yet in production with the greatest potential. They were replaced in 2022 with the Champion and Impact awards listed above.

2020:

  • Impacter: Advana Defense Analytics Platform, Department of Defense; and U.S. Census Modernization Project, Adobe and the U.S. Census Bureau
  • Game Changer: Opioid360, Deloitte and Google; and StrongMind Virtual Reality Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapy, Veterans Health Administration and ERPi
  • Transformer: GrantSolutions Recipient Insight, Department of Health and Human Services; and USA Staffing Onboarding, Office of Personnel Management
  • Incubator: Counterfeit Drug Detector, Precise Software Solution Inc.; and The Robotics Academy, Florida International University

2019:

  • Impacter: Diffusion of Excellence, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs; and Blue Button 2.0, NewWave
  • Game Changer: Pilot Training Next, SAIC; and Steps to PBA Application, General Services Administration
  • Transformer: Ohio Benefits IPA, State of Ohio Department of Administrative Services; and Assistive Technology Center, Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center
  • Incubator: Genomics LIMS, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Services VA Medical Center; and Lifesaving CT Opioid Detection, Leidos
  • Innovation in Healthcare Award Winners: Blue Button 2.0, NewWave; Genomics LIMS, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Services VA Medical Center; Self-Leveling Walker, Advanced Platform Technology Center (VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System); and, CDS Connect, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

2018:

  • Impacter: Gov2Go, NIC Federal, LLC
  • Game Changer: Acquisition in the Digital Age (AiDA), The MITRE Corporation
  • Transformer: Cognitive Object Detection Assistant (CODA), IBM Corporation
  • Incubator: Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management, NASA

​​​2017:

  • Impacter: Global Innovation Exchange, USAID
  • Game Changer: Immersive Multi-Dimensional Experience, INADEV Corporation
  • Transformer: Developer's Integration Lab (DIL), AEGIS.net, Inc.
  • Incubator: Web-Based Prototype Application for School Meals, USDA, FNS

2016:

  • Impacter: IdentityTheft.gov, Lockheed Martin and Federal Trade Commission
  • Game Changer: HealthMap, Epidemico
  • Transformer: Ares Mobile Biometric Solution, InCadence Strategic Solutions
  • Incubator: DHS CMSI PushButtonPD™, Cyber Management Support Initiative, Department of Homeland Security

2015:

  • Citizen Impact: TSA Pre✓®, Transportation Security Administration
  • Incubator: PEAK Real Time Eligibility, State of Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology
  • High Risk, High Reward: Emergency Medicine Management Tool (EMMT) Process Analytics Application, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and SynthSys, LLC
  • 3 Rs (Recycle, Reduce & Reuse): Innovative Architecture Exploits Big Data to Prevent Fraud and Misuse, Social Security Administration and Lockheed Martin
  • Most Disruptive: Army NETCOM Secure Passive Optical Network (SPON), U.S. Army and NCI Information Systems, Inc.

2014:

  • Citizen Impact: Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, Federal Emergency Management Agency
  • Incubator: Patient Buddy, Creative Information Technology Inc.
  • High Risk, High Reward: Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection Iris Pilot, Customs and Border Protection, Office of Information and Technology, BEMSD and Dev Technology Group
  • 3 Rs (Recycle, Reduce & Reuse): BusinessUSA, U.S. Department of Commerce and Small Business Administration
  • Most Disruptive: Full Motion Video Optical Navigation Targeting, The MITRE Corporation