Federal CIO Suzette Kent, after surveying dozens of new and developing tech applications at the Department of Labor’s (DoL) Tech Day event in Washington, called on Federal agencies to share the fruits of those efforts across the government.
“The lesson [of DoL Tech Day] is not reinventing the wheel,” she said, “but standing on the shoulders of our collective experience.”
Attended by more than 2,000 people at DoL headquarters in Washington, and more than 1,000 at DoL regional offices around the country, the Tech Day event featured project demonstrations from 20 DoL sub-agencies, and numerous other agencies including the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Energy, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the General Services Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The event was hosted by DoL in collaboration with the CIO Council, which is headed by Kent, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Drawing much attention from the crowd were a 3D-printed Shelby Cobra sports car and 3D printers capable of producing medical-grade human bone and tissue showcased by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and virtual reality mine-safety technology from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Also featured prominently were numerous applications involving artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), drone-powered inspection systems for communications towers, cloud-based compliance management systems, digital workflow tools, and a tick-tracking application aimed at combating the spread of Lyme disease.
“Take this and do something bigger [with it],” Kent urged attendees from numerous Federal agencies.
“The success stories are told by those who are handling the mission,” she said. “What is magical is putting the technology together with the mission to do some amazing things.”
“I encourage each of you to explore the examples featured today and look for an opportunity to apply these groundbreaking approaches to your own agency mission demands,” she said.
