On April 1, NASA launched an agency-wide call for ideas on its IdeaScale crowdsourcing platform NASA@WORK for how the agency could leverage its expertise and capabilities to help the nation with the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID pandemic. In just two weeks, 250 ideas were submitted, more than 500 comments were submitted, and more than 4,500 votes were cast.
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Those ideas informed a number of different projects in three discrete categories: personal protective equipment, ventilation devices, and the monitoring and forecasting of the spread and impacts of the virus.
The NASA@WORK ideas added value to several projects, including one using NASA’s supercomputing capability to advance research for treatments and a vaccine, as well as offering artificial intelligence expertise to develop new data mining techniques for answering high-priority questions related to COVID-19.
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Other ideas have informed efforts that have led to new virus tracking and forecast modeling apps, 3D printed masks and other PPE equipment, impact visualizations, NASA-modified ventilators, sensors for virus detection, and more. Seven of those ideas have already been implemented, but if additional funding is found, more will continue to aid in the battle against COVID-19.
NASA@WORK is an internal, agency-wide platform that provides NASA employees an unconventional and inventive way to share knowledge and advance projects. Under the charge of NASA SOLVE, it is a one-stop-shop for all challenges and competitions related to the agency’s mission, NASA@WORK fosters collaboration across the entire NASA community through interactive discussion and challenge-solving.
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