NYCEDC and DoITT Announce the Opening of Public Voting For NYC BigApps 3.0 Competition

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) today announced the official opening of public voting for NYC BigApps 3.0, the annual contest for individual software developers or companies to create applications utilizing official City data. A record 95 eligible applications were submitted for the BigApps competition, and starting today the public will have an opportunity to vote for the “Popular Choice Application” award on the BigApps website (http://2011.nycbigapps.com/submissions). As part of the City’s ongoing efforts to increase transparency in government, as well as improve the quality of life for New Yorkers and visitors, BigApps 3.0 made more than 230 new datasets available from more than 60 City agencies, Commissions, and Business Improvement Districts, for a total of nearly 750 available data sets for developers. Thirteen prizes will be awarded in total, including two Popular Choice Application winners. Voting for the Popular Choice award begins today and runs until 5:00 PM EST on Wednesday, March 8, 2012, with winners for all the categories announced later in the spring of 2012.

“Each year, we have built upon the tremendous success of the BigApps competition, and I’m proud to say that this year is no different,” said Seth W. Pinsky, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. “With a record number of submissions received, BigApps 3.0 is once again demonstrating the type of talent that exists here in our City. Starting today, I urge all New Yorkers to vote for these incredibly creative ideas, which are certain to play an important role in shaping the future of New York City as well as its economy.”

"There's no better way to kick off Social Media Week than with the opening of public voting for the NYC BigApps 3.0 competition," said DoITT Commissioner Carole Post. "Every application is built using City data available through our NYC Open Data portal, and I invite everyone to vote for their favorites as we continue to impart New York City's image on the digital world."

In addition to the two Popular Choice winners, awards will also be given in categories including Best Overall Application (Grand Prize, Second Prize), Investor’s Choice Application, Best Green Application, Best Education Application, Best Health Application, Best Mobility Application, Best NYC Mashup Award, Best Student Award, City Talent Award, and the Large Organization Recognition Award.

Winning applications for BigApps 3.0 will receive cash prizes totaling $50,000. In addition, several non-monetary prizes will be awarded, including two NY Tech Meetup demo slots, two TechStars finalist spots, and membership in the inaugural BigApps Founders Network, which will provide mentorship, networking and business support services to help those selected launch or build their startup businesses. The winner of the Best NYC Mashup will get a meeting with a representative of the startup whose API the winner used.

NYC BigApps 3.0 is once again being powered by ChallengePost, a New York City-based startup that allows organizations to challenge the public to solve big problems. Public voting will run until Wednesday, March 8, 2012 at 5:00 PM EST on the NYC BigApps 3.0 website.

“NYC BigApps continues to be a success because of the strong ecosystem of software developers, NYC residents, judges, sponsors, and the City,” said Brandon Kessler, CEO of ChallengePost. “This ecosystem, plus the Ideas challenge which gathered feedback from non-developers, the multiple hackathons, and the continually-improving data all were responsible for this year's record number of apps. ChallengePost is honored to have been a part of this effort since the beginning.”

NYCEDC and the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication have worked with 63 City agencies, Commissions, and Business Improvement Districts across the five boroughs in order to provide the 237 new data sets, which are available on the recently updated NYC Open Data portal at www.nyc.gov/data. As part of the City's ongoing efforts to increase transparency in government, the data will remain accessible to the public after the completion of the BigApps 3.0 Competition.

Applications for the overall competition will be judged on criteria including potential impact on residents, visitors, and City government; creativity and originality; user experience and design; and potential commercial value. The judging panel is comprised of a select group of technology entrepreneurs and information technology-focused venture capital firms, as well as representatives from City government, including: NY Tech Meetup Co-founder Dawn Barber; Betaworks CEO John Borthwick; BMW iVentures Managing Director Alex Diehl; Hunch CEO and Co-Founder Chris Dixon; EDVenture Chairman Esther Dyson; RRE Ventures Co-Founder and General Partner Stuart Ellman; Next Jump Founder and CEO Charlie Kim; FirstMark Capital Founder, CEO and Managing Director, Lawrence Lenihan; Carole Post, DoITT Commissioner; DFJ Gotham Ventures Co-founder and Managing Director Danny Schultz; Foursquare Co-Founder Naveen Selvadurai; Kristy Sundjaja, Senior Director, Center for Economic Transformation, NYCEDC; All Things Digital Co-Executive Editor Kara Swisher; TechStars Managing Director David Tisch; and Union Square Ventures Partner Fred Wilson.

Originally launched in 2009 by Mayor Bloomberg, the first NYC BigApps Competition made more than 170 official City datasets available and received 85 eligible submissions. The Grand Prize for Best Overall Application was awarded to WayFinder NYC, an application designed to help locate the nearest subway, bus or train station. Other winners included Taxihack, Big Apple Ed, NYC Way, and Bookzee. In 2010, NYC BigApps 2.0 was launched, making available nearly 400 datasets and led to the selection of fourteen winning applications from a pool of 58 submissions. The overall Grand Prize was awarded to the Roadify iPhone App, which alerts users to the latest subway, bus, or driving conditions by using official transit data and real-time updates from commuters. Last year’s Popular Choice winners were Sportaneous – a location-based app and website which facilitates pick-up sports games in public parks and facilities (Grand Prize) as well as Roadify (Second Prize).

About NYCEDC

New York City Economic Development Corporation is the City's primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each of the five boroughs. NYCEDC's mission is to stimulate growth through expansion and redevelopment programs that encourage investment, generate prosperity and strengthen the City's competitive position. NYCEDC serves as an advocate to the business community by building relationships with companies that allow them to take advantage of New York City's many opportunities. Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or visit our blog to learn more about NYCEDC projects and initiatives.

About NYC DoITT 

The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications is at the center of shaping New York City’s IT strategy and policy, especially as it relates to the emerging and innovative technologies making government more effective and user-friendly. As part of the NYC BigApps competition, DoITT maintains the NYC Open Data portal at www.nyc.gov/data to house hundreds of supporting datasets and associated information for the competition. The NYC DataMine is a revolutionary approach to storing and representing data from dozens of City agencies in a consolidated, cohesive and customer-friendly manner.