WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted Dr. Beth Noveck as a part of the Administrator's Forum. As the United States deputy chief technology officer for open government, Dr. Noveck leads the President's Open Government Initiative and she challenged the Agency to use technology to improve development.

"It's really about rethinking the process of transparency, participation and collaboration," said Dr. Noveck. "It's not transparency for our own sake...but toward the end of making better decisions, creating greater accountability, and driving performance.

In her remarks, Dr. Noveck challenged USAID to empower its stakeholders and constituents to focus on their abilities through technology to collaborate, solve programs, find opportunities, and innovate in the development arena.

Based out of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Noveck implements President Obama's call for an "unprecedented level of openness in Government."

Dr. Noveck is a professor of law and director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School. She served as a volunteer advisor on innovation in government for Obama for America and as a member of the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform Policy group for the Obama-Biden transition. She is the author of the book Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful.

Dr. Noveck teaches in the areas of intellectual property, innovation, and constitutional law as well as courses on electronic democracy and government. She pioneered the Democracy Design Workshop and launched Peer to Patent: Community Patent Review project in collaboration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

For more information about USAID please visit www.usaid.gov. For more information about the White House's Open Government Initiative, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/OPEN/.