MAY 10, 2023 — The U.S. Census Bureau today announced the winners of the first phase of the StatVentures Supply Chain Challenge. StatVentures is a pioneering initiative of Census Open Innovation Labs (COIL) aimed at enhancing data collection methods through new technologies and outside collaborations.

Through a multiphase competition, StatVentures invited participants last fall to propose new ways to improve America's supply chain data. Phase 1 winners were selected for their unique approaches, which include use of satellite imagery, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transaction data standards, last mile and e-commerce data, impact dashboards, proprietary data sources, local government partnerships, hardware and software product pairings, academic partnerships, Natural Language Processing (NLP) analysis, and more.

Ten of the 11 winners (one declined the monetary award) will receive $10,000 and all winners will be invited to join the StatVentures Phase 2 cohort to develop an implementation roadmap for their concepts. Phase 2 of the challenge begins in June. The 11 winners are:

• AEROSPIKE, whose real-time database empowers federal agencies to transform vast data into knowledge through emerging tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
• Bunting Labs, Inc., a startup making insights from geospatial data more accessible, with funding from leading investors like YCombinator and Twenty-Two Ventures.
• CANA, LLC, a veteran- and woman-owned small business, headquartered in Northern Virginia.
• Data Driven Supply Chain LLC, which uses data science and artificial intelligence to tackle clients' supply chain questions.
• DigitalNomads, a collaboration between technology professionals to develop an AI e-commerce forecasting platform that provides insights into movement, revenue and categorization of goods.
• Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), which takes a geographic approach to problem-solving, brought to life by modern geographic information system (GIS) technology.
• FreightWaves, an army of supply chain experts backed by SONAR, an exhaustive hub for high-frequency, near-real-time supply chain intelligence pertaining to all modes of transit and macroeconomic conditions.
• Made in Manchester, a coalition of community partners advancing new models for distributed manufacturing.
• Murano Corporation, which is currently in a U.S. Navy funded research and development phase and focuses on developing data acquisition hardware for more accurate supply chain planning.
• NogueraTintelnot, a collaboration between Felix Tintelnot (University of Chicago) and Guillermo Noguera (Yale University) to enhance the understanding of U.S. production networks.
• Transautomata LLC, which develops machine learning-based solutions to complex problems across a variety of industries, with a focus on language processing, high frequency data analysis and image processing.

StatVentures is committed to scouting technology through collaborations with innovators outside government to ensure the Census Bureau continues to provide the highest quality data.

For more information on StatVentures, contact the Census Open Innovation Labs (COIL).  

No news release associated with this announcement. Tip sheet only.