What’s New in Civic Tech: STIR Labs Unveils 2020 Challenges

Source: GovTech Published: October 8th, 2020

The STIR Labs program has unveiled the research challenges that its inaugural cohort will tackle, the group announced this week in a press release.

These challenges are paired with the government participants, and the full list is as follows: San Jose, Calif., will address child care; Costa Mesa, Calif., will address climate change; Detroit, San Leandro, Calif., and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will address the digital divide; Santa Fe, N.M., and Sacramento, Calif., will address economic innovation; Memphis and the Association of Bay Area Governments/Metropolitan Transportation Commission will address housing; the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will address mobility; and West Sacramento, Calif., and Austin, Texas, will address public safety.

The next phase in the development of this inaugural year for STIR Labs will be finding the university research participants to pair with the cities and challenges, which is in keeping with the mission of the program. STIR Labs works to pair local universities with government agencies in the service of applying academic expertise to community challenges, thereby improving government functions while giving researchers real-world situations to address. 

The application period for university researchers to apply for STIR Labs is open now and will run through Nov. 1. More information is available on the STIR Labs website. The program shares part of its name and its organizing body — City Innovate — with the original Startup in Residence Program, which essentially does the same thing STIR Labs does, instead pairing government entities with startup companies. 

A recent poll conducted by Gallup/Knight Foundation has found that roughly four out of five American are worried that disinformation will sway the upcoming presidential election, Knight announced in a press release.

“As the nation prepares to go to the polls in less than a month, Americans are widely concerned that misinformation on social media will sway the 2020 election outcome,” the Knight Foundation noted in the release. “Majorities of Americans say President Donald Trump and social media websites and apps are spreading a great deal of misinformation.”

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