For most entrepreneurs and small businesses, the Federal government has useful programs and services, but it can be hard to identify, engage and navigate Federal websites.  Often, small businesses do not know that the Federal government already offers a program that they would find useful.  Entrepreneurs and small businesses need better tools to navigate the Federal government’s vast resources – including programs, services, and procurement opportunities.  The goal of the Apps for Entrepreneurs is to give small businesses and entrepreneurs those better tools through this challenge format.

$20,000 in prizes

To enter, participants should develop an innovative application designed for the Web, a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, console, or any platform broadly accessible on the open internet that utilizes data which is freely available on Federal government websites.  

The Apps submitted for this Competition must use data from at least one of the following sources: Small Business Administration http://www.sba.gov/api; Small Business Innovation Research Program http://www.sbir.gov/apis; Green Government Opportunities for Small Business http://green.sba.gov/apis or Data.gov www.data.gov.  

Participants should then register for Challenge.gov and submit through entrepreneurs.challenge.gov. The submission should include the app's URL and a short description.

• Mission and Impact [25%]
  Does the application meet the goals of the Apps for Entrepreneurs Challenge? The application will be rated on the strength of its potential to make Federal government programs and information more useful to small businesses.
• Creativity [25%]
  Is the application innovative, creative and interesting?
• Use of Required Data [25%]
  Does the application use a combination of creative and relevant Federal data sets, including at least one data set from either http://www.sba.gov; http://www.sbir.gov; www.data.gov or http://green.sba.gov? Otherwise, is there an explanation?
• Technical Implementation [25%]
  Is the application functional, well designed, and simple to use? It is accessible to a wide range of users including those with disabilities?