GE (NYSE: GE) today announced the “Industrial Internet Quests,” a challenge to developers and data scientists to create the best new algorithms and design applications to reduce air travel delays and deliver the ultimate patient experience. The two Quests will open on November 29 and are part of a broader effort to create an open platform, cultivate a community, and develop widespread expertise in the Industrial Internet. GE is partnering with Kaggle, a leader in big data challenges, to execute the Quests.

“New tools alone are not enough to solve our big data challenges. The Quests will give developers and data scientists access to the information needed to spark new ideas, perspectives, analytic approaches, and find ways of working across diverse industries,” said Bill Ruh, VP of GE’s Software and Analytics Center. “We want this open platform to help spur innovation for extracting actionable insights that will make machines like jet engines and healthcare equipment more productive and decrease waste for our customers. We are excited to see what the competition will yield.”

The Quests will span several months and submissions will be reviewed and winners selected by Healthcare experts for the Hospital Quest and judged based on automated rules for the Flight Quest. Winners will receive cash rewards as well as the opportunity to have their submission turned into a working simulation, with the ultimate goal of creating an onboard flight management application and hospital patient experience application, supported by GE.

Ochsner Health System President and CEO Warner Thomas said: “At Ochsner, our patients are our primary focus. We look forward to collaborating with GE and the developer community to create technology that can help deliver a more interactive, hassle-free experience from pre-admissions through treatment and discharge.”

Alaska Airlines VP of Flight Operations Gary Beck said: “It’s our top priority at Alaska Airlines to get our passengers to their destinations safely and without flight delays. With this Flight Quest we are excited to partner with GE to work with data scientists and developers to solve inefficiencies and bring new innovation to flight management.”

GE’s first two Industrial Internet Quests announced today are:

Flight Quest: www.gequest.com/flight

• The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimate that on any given flight there is 18-22% inefficiency – from flight delays, to use of fuel, to flight paths. The Flight Quest challenges data scientists to help create an algorithm for a flight management system that reduces flight delays to save airlines money and ensure travelers arrive safely and on-time.
• Participants in the Flight Quest will receive a two-month data set of flight information of the National Airspace System. The information will include: flight number, origin, destination, take-off time, arrival time, latitude and longitude at frequent interim waypoints along the journey and weather and wind data.
• The Flight Quest will take place over two phases. In the first phase, participants will be asked to create a predictive model that increases aviation efficiency.
• The winning predictive algorithm from the first phase will then be used to create a simulation in the second phase of the Quest with the ultimate goal being the creation by GE of an onboard flight management application.
• Together, the winners from both phases will receive a total prize pool of $500,000 from GE.

Hospital Quest: www.gequest.com/hospital

• Many reports estimate there is anywhere from $750 billion to $1.2 trillion wasted annually in healthcare inefficiencies. The Hospital Quest challenges the developer community to create the ultimate patient experience in a hospital setting by designing applications for use by patients to take the hassle out of the process involved in hospital stays and advance operations management to free up caregivers to spend less time on inefficient processes and activities and more time with patients.
• Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges from GE, Ochsner Health System and Kaggle. The winners will receive a total prize pool of $100,000 from GE.

The Industrial Internet Quests will be open for entries beginning November 29, 2012. To participate and view full terms and conditions of the Industrial Internet Quests, visit www.gequest.com.

GE plans to launch a series of “Industrial Internet Quests” in 2013. These Quests will embrace the goals of open collaboration with our customers, developers, data scientists and designers to help GE in transforming various industries across Healthcare, Aviation, Rail, Oil & Gas and Power.

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