Bright Ideas

History celebrates innovations-the telephone, airplane and microchip-that seem to alter human progress by the force of their novelty. Their appearance casts the haze of distant memory over the time when we lived without them.

But more often, it's the seemingly mundane inventions that have the farthest-reaching effects. They're the ones born of a desire to make the fundamental tasks of daily life more bearable. An example is the stapler, introduced in the late 1870s by inventor George W. McGill as a way to insert brass fasteners into reams of paper. Or the credit card, conceived in 1950 by restaurant patron Frank McNamara, who, according to legend, was so embarrassed at having forgotten to bring his wallet to a business dinner in New York that he founded the Diners Club, giving approved members the freedom to enter and leave a restaurant without a dime in their pockets.

This year's winners of the Government Technology Leadership Awards follow in the tradition of the stapler and the credit card: They aren't blindingly original, but they provide new and better ways of tackling knotty problems, such as using an electronic, Web-based program to track emergency room patients. Or letting employees manage their payroll statements on their own. Or creating citywide news alerts delivered to citizens through e-mail, telephone or fax.

The nine winners of the 2004 "Gracies," representing federal, state and local agencies, reflect the innovative spirit of their namesake, Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, who was regarded as one of government's top technologists before her retirement from the Navy in 1986.

A panel of judges representing government, the private sector and nonprofit groups received 260 nominations this year before settling on 27 finalists. The nine winners chosen from this group all buck conventional thinking. They reinforce one of the most important caveats of innovation, as articulated by corporate executive William Pollard: "Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow."

2004 Government Technology Leadership Awards
Selection Committee

• Alan Paller
  Director of Research SANS Institute
• Dan Chenok
  Vice President and Director of Policy and Management Strategies
  SRA International
• Sandra Bates
  Commissioner, Federal Technology Service
  General Services Administration
• Elizabeth McDaniel
  Dean of Faculty and Academic Programs
  Information Resources Management College
  National Defense University
• Timothy B. Clark
  Editor and President
  Government Executive
• Frank Reeder
  The Reeder Group Inc.
• Gloria Parker
  Chief Technology Officer
  Housing and Urban Development

Judging Criteria

Purpose of Project:

Was technology used in achieving a solution and/or addressing a problem?

Impact on Business:

Are there significant changes in business processes associated with the nomination, including cost savings?

Benefits:

Are there significant increases in customer benefits to date and anticipated in the future?

Next Steps:

Are there additional measures the nomination addresses? Are further business objectives planned?

Replication:

Can other agencies learn from or apply the successes derived?