The Open Data 500 will be the first comprehensive census of U.S.-based companies using government data to develop new products and services. The goal of the Open Data 500 is to understand how companies use open government data in their business, how it can be made more useful, and how it can help promote innovation. To qualify for the Open Data 500, a company must:

* Be U.S.-based,
* Earn revenue from its products and services, and
* Use open government data as a critical resource for its business. (While most Open Data 500 companies will work with federal data, we are also interested in those that use city or state data if their work can scale regionally or nationally.)