Last month’s Innovation Station “active challenge” about how to improve internal communications was co-sponsored by, from left, George Akiyama, Deputy Director of Information Technology; Tamie McGowen, Assistant Deputy Director of Public Affairs; and Cris Rojas, Deputy Director of Administration. 
When Innovation Station was re-launched in January, a few people took notice.
A few thousand people, that is.
By early March, nearly 4,000 Caltrans workers had logged onto the idea-sharing and challenge-solving internal website. They participated in the initial two “active challenges” – “Reduce Roadway Trash” and “Better, Faster, Cheaper” – and visited the more free-range “Idea Factory.”
Tiffany McCallister of the Division of Research, Innovation and System Information, who leads Innovation Station’s outreach efforts, said that it will take awhile to fully process that first round of challenges.
“There was no way we could have anticipated the response that we received to the call for ideas,” she explained. “We are now in the most labor-intensive stage, which is idea refinement and review.”
Meanwhile, good ideas keep pulling into Innovation Station. The second round of challenges were introduced on March 4. Problem-solving participants were asked to weigh in on these questions:
- “How can we improve communication so employees receive the information they need?” (Posted under the heading “Communication.”)
- “How can we better prepare our infrastructure to withstand exposure, keep communities connected to the rest of the state, and support emergency response during wildfires/mudslides?” (Posted under the heading “Wildfires-Mudslides.”)
Submissions were due by March 31, and voting on those ideas was to continue until April 14.