The Opportunity Project

Bringing together government, technologists, and communities to create digital tools that help strengthen American economic opportunity.

What is The Opportunity Project?

The Opportunity Project is a process for engaging government, communities, and the technology industry to create digital tools that address our greatest challenges as a nation. This process helps to empower people with technology, make government data more accessible and user-friendly, and facilitate cross-sector collaboration to build new digital solutions.

Venn Diagram of Government, Tech, and Communities

A Department of Commerce Initiative

The Department of Commerce connects tech developers, local leaders, and non-profits with problem statements on issues like jobs, transportation, and housing, and facilitates user-centered tech development sprints to create new digital solutions.

A Way to Engage your community

Anyone can replicate this process. Local leaders, technologists, students, or anyone interested in collaborating on technology and data-driven solutions can start a project. View The Opportunity Project toolkit, a step-by-step guide to the process used by the Department of Commerce project team, and adapt it for your own project.

How does The Opportunity Project work?

The Opportunity Project works through collaborative sprints that bring technology developers, communities, and government together to solve problems using open data.



The Opportunity Project in Action

Since launching in 2016, The Opportunity Project has yielded dozens of new digital tools that help solve problems like connecting veterans and their families with jobs, connecting people experiencing homelessness with services and shelter, and rebuilding rural economies. Here are three featured projects created through The Opportunity Project. See the rest here.

Media Archive

View past press releases, videos, and blogs to learn more about The Opportunity Project and how to get involved.