Case Study: New York City achieves civic innovation and crowdsourced solutions with Tyler Technologies

NYC Asks Hackers to Solve Tough Issues

New York City’s BigApps competition, launched in 2009, challenged developers and civic-minded designers to use the city’s open data to solve real urban problems. The key challenge was turning vast public datasets and broad public invitations into practical, usable solutions by connecting technologists with concrete civic issues and local partners.

The city supported this by building a user-friendly open data portal (nyc.gov/data), running seven design-thinking workshops, crowdsourcing priority challenges from agencies and nonprofits, and offering $30,000 in prizes plus accelerator support. The approach drew about 500 participants, produced 150 eligible ideas, and yielded winning projects like On Board (paratransit check-in), PASSNYC Opportunity Explorer (student opportunities), and Nesterly (home-sharing for seniors), helping spawn startups, jobs, and prototypes that advance city services.

New York City

Bill de Blasio

Mayor