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DHS Hidden Signals Challenge

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) calls upon data innovators from a wide variety of fields— from data science, to civic tech, to epidemiology— to develop concepts for novel uses of existing data that will identify signals and achieve timelier alerts for biothreats in our cities and communities. Successful concepts will explore connections between multiple readily accessible data sources to develop real-time insights that can improve public safety responses to emerging biothreats.

The deadline for submissions is 4:59 PM ET on Monday, December 4, 2017. Please submit at least one hour before the deadline to ensure your completed submission is received.

This form is best viewed using Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer 10 or higher. To prevent the loss of any entered information, please save the form as a draft prior to attaching any files or editing your team contact information. When submitting, please do not reload the form or exit the browser until you see a message confirming that we have received your submission.

If you encounter any issues, please email [email protected] with a description of the problem, a screenshot, and the date and time of the occurrence.

* denotes required field

Submission Title *

Submission Description *

What is the headline for your concept? Briefly describe your concept and approach.

Data

What freely available and/or low-cost data sources do you plan to use? *

Please describe each data source, noting any costs associated with access (if applicable). (200 words)

Describe key characteristics and limitations of your data, with a particular focus on the sustainability of your data over time. *

Are there any potential risks or changes that may impact the stability of your data? What are the prospects for continued government access? (200 words)

What other data would you use to improve your concept if constraints, such as government accessibility and cost, were not an issue? *

(250 words)

Does your concept rely on any third-party data sources, resources, content or technology? *

If so, please describe and affirm that appropriate documentation for all licenses and releases can be supplied upon request of the Department of Homeland Security and/or Luminary Labs. (150 words)

Analysis

What kind of signals might your concept be capable of identifying? How will you analyze the data sources described above to generate actionable insights pertaining to these signals? *

(500 words)

What level of confidence would result from your analysis? Are there any known correlations or hypotheses that support this data’s relevance to biothreat detection? *

(300 words)

If you were to build out this concept, how might you benefit from any known artificial intelligence or machine learning methods? *

(100 words)

System Design Considerations

What geographic areas of the United States does your concept impact? *

Select all that apply to your concept as it currently is scoped.*

Atlanta
Austin
Boston
Chicago
Los Angeles
New York
San Francisco
Washington D.C.
National
Other

Describe the operational end user (e.g., city-level public safety personnel) and how your concept might support their day-to-day decision-making. *

Consider how the information generated by your analysis might complement existing systems, including any measures you would take to reduce noise and “alert fatigue.” (200 words)

Please outline the major costs of accessing and analyzing the data if your concept was built for the city or cities indicated above. *

(200 words)

If you were to build out this concept, what privacy constraints would you face, and how would you address them? *

For more information on privacy constraints, please refer to the Additional Resources & Reading section on privacy. (150 words)

Describe how your concept could potentially scale to address other geographies, agents or syndromes, and/or share insights with other existing systems. *

(150 words)

Team

Describe your team’s expertise, experience, and interest in refining this concept into a system design if selected as a Finalist. *

(500 words)

Optional: Additional Assets

If available, upload or link to additional research abstracts, presentations, data visualizations, or other supporting visual information that may help us better understand your concept.

Accepted upload file formats include: .ppt, .pptx, .doc, .docx, .pdf, .jpg, .png (50 MB max).

Team Affiliation

I'm applying on behalf of: *

Myself, or a team of individuals
A legal entity

If applying on behalf of yourself or a team of individuals, you must disclose the names of any team members that are foreign citizens. If your team has no foreign citizens, please state “none”. *

Please see the Official Rules, Terms & Conditions for additional details concerning eligibility.

Submission Checklist

Please complete the Submission Checklist: *

I attest that if I am selected as a Finalist and accept the associated Stage 1 cash prize, I agree to participate in all activities associated with Stage 2. I understand that this will include the further development of concepts into detailed system designs, with guidance from a panel of expert mentors and the completion of a Stage 2 submission, based on which Stage 2 cash prizes will be distributed.
I have read and understand the Official Rules, Terms & Conditions, and fully agree to them.
I am an individual and/or represent a team or I represent a private entity that meets all eligibility criteria as stated in the Official Rules, Terms & Conditions.
I did not receive assistance from the judges associated with the Challenge when preparing this submission.

Optional

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Submission period now closed.

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