Data Innovation Lab
The Data Innovation Lab uses data for social good. Our team uses advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence to help organizations solve problems that will make our communities a better place.
Services
Data Evaluation & Measurement
Assess your impact and optimize your programs with comprehensive evaluation and measurement services tailored specifically for nonprofit organizations
Predictive Analytics & Machine Learning
Use cutting-edge tools like geospatial community analysis and program outcome prediction to solve complex challenges, optimize outcomes, and enhance program effectiveness with data-driven insights
Data Architecture & Warehouse
Evaluate and learn what data systems and products work best for your data needs and how and where it should live
Examples of Our Work
Tracking COVID-19 Through Wastewater
Individual COVID-19 diagnostic testing capacity is insufficient; case counts and hospitalization data often lag by weeks. Sewage surveillance can help to detect the virus and mitigate its spread weeks in advance of conventional measures. We partnered with a local county government to use data to fine-tune wastewater viral load measurement in order to inform public health actions in the fight against COVID-19. This work was deployed as an open-source dashboard available to the community.
Building Open-source Community Metrics
With the onset of COVID-19, the role of social and economic factors on public health has become increasingly evident. However, the tools policymakers, researchers, and investors use to evaluate community needs are not updated on a timely, granular basis. The Data Innovation Lab team partnered with several community organizations to build an open-source API that integrates data from a variety of sources, providing a community-level view of indicators such as housing, transportation, and education within Delaware.
Understanding Telehealth Usage
In the past two years, telehealth usage has dramatically increased. The Data Innovation Lab team partnered with a health information exchange to understand how local patterns in telehealth usage changed through the exploration of health claims data. The team focused on understanding the geographic distribution of health claims related to telehealth and the underlying major disease categories associated with them.
Optimizing Rental Assistance Funding
The COVID-19 pandemic created economic challenges for many families, sometimes making it difficult to pay rent. Emergency Rental Assistance was made available, but not all families were aware of it to take advantage of this resource. The Data Innovation Lab built machine learning models to identify communities that had received disproportionately low levels of emergency rental assistance funding, allowing for government leaders to ensure funds were disbursed equitably.