NIST to Host First App Challenge to Improve Data Access

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plays an essential role in developing and distributing Standard Reference Data, or SRD. The NIST SRD collection contains some of the world’s most accurate and comprehensive datasets of physical, materials science, chemical, and biological data. But is there a better way to share NIST SRD with the researchers who need it? That’s the assumption behind the Reference Data Challenge.

NIST is offering prizes totaling $45,000 to software developers who create the most innovative and impactful Apps using NIST reference data. The challenge is open to US citizens or permanent residents over the age of 18. A panel of judges will determine which Apps are deserving of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize cash awards. From now until September 28th, NIST invites submissions of mobile applications to the Reference Data Challenge that use at least one of six eligible NIST datasets. All of the eligible datasets are freely accessible online, both at the NIST website and on data.gov in machine-readable format.