Enabling Real-Time Data-Driven Public Policy Decision Making
The Partnership for Growth (PFG) aims to achieve accelerated, sustained, and broad-based economic growth in partner countries, including El Salvador » Read more
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is the largest independent conservation organization dedicated solely to saving the Bay. Besides raising and planting oysters on protected sanctuaries, planting trees and offering numerous educational programs, CBF strongly advocates for a science-based approach to reduce pollution to support a healthy, vibrant Chesapeake Bay, for us and future generations.For over 40 years the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has participated in educational programs that has trained over a million students on field programs and student leadership. The CBF provides high quality professional learning to meet the changing needs of teachers and schools across the Potomac through the Chesapeake class and programs.
In Turkey, The Ministry of Economy is implementing a project named the SME Networking and Clustering (SNC) Project supported by the EU during the period from February 2011 to November 2013. » Read more
Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal), was awarded a grant through the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program to develop a health care research and delivery virtual collaborative system to provide researchers, practitioners, and professionals with a platform to share information, best practices, research, publications, and studies. The MIPS program is a branch of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTECH), which is run through the University of Maryland. The program aims to “accelerate the commercialization of technology in Maryland by jointly funding collaborative R&D projects between companies and University System of Maryland faculty.”
To complete this task, Optimal developed a system titled Quality Improvement, Innovation, and Dissemination (QI2D). The QI2D is a third-generation (3G) healthcare research and delivery collaborative system that provides a unique platform to provide access and information in one centralized place. It is used to facilitate multidimensional communications and evaluate exchanges on the QI2D using a diffusion of innovation model informing how, why, and at what rate practices or quality improvement innovations spread through practitioner, research, and policymaker populations. The program was executed in two phases: Phase I sought to customize the open-source HUBzero collaboration platform to create the QI2D and recruit key stakeholders and participants for a pilot study. This study was designed to stimulate and monitor real-world usage and guided enhancements and/or marketing approaches for Phase II. The second phase incorporated augmentations to Optimal’s previous collaborative system and included a second pilot study, web-based surveys, and focus groups at the annual Improvement Science Summit to analyze challenges and areas of improvement.
• Key program outcomes, including small business revenue, employment, and payroll growth for each cluster, are benchmarked against similar businesses in the same industry and region.
• Provides a synthetic control group to account for economy-wide, regional, and industry-specific trends and shocks.
• Relies on Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dunn & Bradstreet, and U.S. Census data.
• Surveys are developed for both Web and interactive PDF smartform deployment.
• Controls data collection costs (majority of data collected via the Web), yet also enables clusters to collect data from participants during regularly occurring interactions (e.g., phone, at events).
• Enhances response rate by accommodating participant preferences and circumventing inaccurate e-mail addresses.
• Clusters’ structure is mapped using network analysis, based on strength of relationships and frequency of interactions.
• Allows for a visual representation of the complex “shape” and composition of clusters, complementing statistical analysis and qualitative data.
• Enables the tracking of each cluster’s evolving “shape” and composition over the duration of the initiatives to infer sustainability.
Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal), has been contracted by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to monitor and evaluate the Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative, which launched in 2010. Optimal has developed survey instruments designed to collect information from the SBA-funded clusters, their small businesses, and large organizations. The surveys are administered via the web and are complemented with interactive PDF surveys towards the end of the data collection period. The surveys collects information on reasons for participation in clusters, satisfaction with cluster services, revenue, employment, progress towards commercialization, and other key outcomes of the program. Optimal also interacts and coordinates with various cluster stakeholders and works systematically to gain an understanding of the assets, features, and barriers of each cluster’s industry of focus. You can find a recent report here: https://www.sba.gov/sites/
In 2014, SBA contracted with Optimal to expand its data collection and analysis efforts to six of the agency’s programs and initiatives, including the Women’s Business Center, SCORE and Small Business Development Center programs, and the Emerging Leaders, ScaleUp, and Regional Innovation Cluster initiatives.
• Developed organizational website content assessment tool to include all Part D content requirements.
• Identifies areas where plans are compliant or need further clarification of posted information. » Read more
• 95% of youth are online and 80% of those use social media.
• Conversations on drug-related behavior take place more on micromedia using different slang terminology than used in person.
» Read more
Optimal provides support to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) Office of the Medicare Ombudsman (OMO) to assist in improving Medicare for beneficiaries. Optimal produces the annual Report to Congress (RTC) using real-time storyboarding in support of this contract.
» Read more
• Liberia has undergone a long period of bloody civil war that shattered its economy.
• Its principal sector of activity, agriculture, has been damaged and is plagued by low crop yields. » Read more
The 3rd annual International Conference on Public Policy is around the corner, and this year Optimal will be a presenter at the three-day conference (June 28th-30th) in Singapore. The conference will include panels, networking, and workshops that feature talks on policy design, the political process of policy making, policy instruments and more.
Among the presenters will be Optimal’s CEO, Mark Turner and Senior Research Associate, Jennifer Auer. Drs. Turner and Auer will be presenting two papers at the conference; “The role of government at each stage of business growth” and “The role of Urban Policy in coordinating Entrepreneur Ecosystems”. These papers apply two theoretical lenses to inform the appropriate role of government in entrepreneur policy: business life cycle stages from management theory and market failures from classical economics.
This year the conference will take place at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and is expecting over 1,500 participants. The scholars presenting at this year’s conference are coming from 80 countries to share their research papers.
To find out more about the 2017 ICPP conference, please visit http://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/conference/icpp-3-singapore-2017/7