Bold Ideas Competition

The VA is looking for “big thinkers”—people with “crazy ideas, new approaches, disruptive solutions”—to enter its Industry Innovation Competitions in 2014. The first competition, Targeting Innovations in Veteran Mental Health, is hosted by the VA Center for Innovation (VACI), which is looking to employees, the private sector, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and academia for new ideas on how to improve the health care experience for veterans. “VA has established a track record as an innovative organization that welcomes new ideas,” said former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki in a VA press release. “The competition represents an important way for us to tap the significant pool of talent and expertise inside and outside of government to improve mental health care and services for our nation’s veterans, their families, and survivors.”

But they also hope to share the “best-of-breed” innovations with the world at large. “With this competition we are focused on challenges that affect a population much larger than our veterans,” said VACI Acting Director Patrick Littlefield. “We anticipate these efforts will benefit a very large community of providers and customers.”

The competition seeks creative solutions in 3 areas of significance to the VA. Entrants are encouraged to propose new ways to respond to veteran mental health challenges, with topics focused on human-centered design. “We want a deep understanding of the users we are developing these programs for, so that the solutions fit with the way people are trying to access services. User-centered design ensures that we’re responsive to the ways communities are living and working now,” said a participant in a Q&A session about the competition.

Entrants are encouraged to consider the “whole lifetime of the veteran,” not focusing on a particular generation or age. The topics include upstream suicide intervention; improving veterans’ receptivity to mental health care to promote treatment, engagement, and participation; and innovative methods of incentivizing behavior to improve mental wellness.

Subject matter experts from VA, other government agencies, and applicable industries review the proposals. Selected innovators work with VACI to design a pilot implementation based on their proposals, after which each project is evaluated. The most successful are eventually rolled out as prototypes in the VA, then nationally. In the first 3 Industry Innovation Competitions, 48 of the nearly 800 ideas submitted across 15 topic areas were selected for awards.

Concept papers will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis through May 30, 2016 (as long as funding is available). For more information on the competition, visit http://www.innovation.va.gov.

The VA is looking for “big thinkers”—people with “crazy ideas, new approaches, disruptive solutions”—to enter its Industry Innovation Competitions in 2014. The first competition, Targeting Innovations in Veteran Mental Health, is hosted by the VA Center for Innovation (VACI), which is looking to employees, the private sector, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and academia for new ideas on how to improve the health care experience for veterans. “VA has established a track record as an innovative organization that welcomes new ideas,” said former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki in a VA press release. “The competition represents an important way for us to tap the significant pool of talent and expertise inside and outside of government to improve mental health care and services for our nation’s veterans, their families, and survivors.”

But they also hope to share the “best-of-breed” innovations with the world at large. “With this competition we are focused on challenges that affect a population much larger than our veterans,” said VACI Acting Director Patrick Littlefield. “We anticipate these efforts will benefit a very large community of providers and customers.”

The competition seeks creative solutions in 3 areas of significance to the VA. Entrants are encouraged to propose new ways to respond to veteran mental health challenges, with topics focused on human-centered design. “We want a deep understanding of the users we are developing these programs for, so that the solutions fit with the way people are trying to access services. User-centered design ensures that we’re responsive to the ways communities are living and working now,” said a participant in a Q&A session about the competition.

Entrants are encouraged to consider the “whole lifetime of the veteran,” not focusing on a particular generation or age. The topics include upstream suicide intervention; improving veterans’ receptivity to mental health care to promote treatment, engagement, and participation; and innovative methods of incentivizing behavior to improve mental wellness.

Subject matter experts from VA, other government agencies, and applicable industries review the proposals. Selected innovators work with VACI to design a pilot implementation based on their proposals, after which each project is evaluated. The most successful are eventually rolled out as prototypes in the VA, then nationally. In the first 3 Industry Innovation Competitions, 48 of the nearly 800 ideas submitted across 15 topic areas were selected for awards.

Concept papers will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis through May 30, 2016 (as long as funding is available). For more information on the competition, visit http://www.innovation.va.gov.

The VA is looking for “big thinkers”—people with “crazy ideas, new approaches, disruptive solutions”—to enter its Industry Innovation Competitions in 2014. The first competition, Targeting Innovations in Veteran Mental Health, is hosted by the VA Center for Innovation (VACI), which is looking to employees, the private sector, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and academia for new ideas on how to improve the health care experience for veterans. “VA has established a track record as an innovative organization that welcomes new ideas,” said former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki in a VA press release. “The competition represents an important way for us to tap the significant pool of talent and expertise inside and outside of government to improve mental health care and services for our nation’s veterans, their families, and survivors.”

But they also hope to share the “best-of-breed” innovations with the world at large. “With this competition we are focused on challenges that affect a population much larger than our veterans,” said VACI Acting Director Patrick Littlefield. “We anticipate these efforts will benefit a very large community of providers and customers.”

The competition seeks creative solutions in 3 areas of significance to the VA. Entrants are encouraged to propose new ways to respond to veteran mental health challenges, with topics focused on human-centered design. “We want a deep understanding of the users we are developing these programs for, so that the solutions fit with the way people are trying to access services. User-centered design ensures that we’re responsive to the ways communities are living and working now,” said a participant in a Q&A session about the competition.

Entrants are encouraged to consider the “whole lifetime of the veteran,” not focusing on a particular generation or age. The topics include upstream suicide intervention; improving veterans’ receptivity to mental health care to promote treatment, engagement, and participation; and innovative methods of incentivizing behavior to improve mental wellness.

Subject matter experts from VA, other government agencies, and applicable industries review the proposals. Selected innovators work with VACI to design a pilot implementation based on their proposals, after which each project is evaluated. The most successful are eventually rolled out as prototypes in the VA, then nationally. In the first 3 Industry Innovation Competitions, 48 of the nearly 800 ideas submitted across 15 topic areas were selected for awards.

Concept papers will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis through May 30, 2016 (as long as funding is available). For more information on the competition, visit http://www.innovation.va.gov.