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Presidential Innovation Fellows

Presidential innovation fellows

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program brings the innovation economy into government, by pairing talented, diverse technologists and innovators with top civil-servants and change-makers within the federal government to tackle some our nation’s biggest challenges.

“We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government…”
President Barack Obama, January 21st, 2013


The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program brings the principles, values, and practices of the innovation economy into government through the most effective agents of change we know: our people. This highly-competitive program pairs talented, diverse technologists and innovators with top civil-servants and change-makers working at the highest levels of the federal government to tackle some our nation’s biggest challenges. These teams of government experts and private-sector doers take a user-centric approach to issues at the intersection of people, processes, products, and policy to achieve lasting impact.

Fellows selected for this unique, and highly-competitive opportunity serve for 12 months, during which they will collaborate with each other and federal agency partners on high-profile initiatives aimed at saving lives, saving taxpayer money, fueling job creation, and building the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation within government.

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About the Fellowship

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program was established by the White House in 2012 to attract top innovators into government, capable of tackling issues at the convergence of technology, policy, and process.

The PIF program is administered as a partnership between the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the General Services Administration (GSA). In 2013, the PIF program established a permanent home and program office within GSA.

Program Details

The Fellowship is a 12-month program, during which Fellows are embedded within a federal agency to collaborate on challenges with innovators inside government. Fellows are based in Washington D.C. for the duration of their Fellowship, and are considered full-time employees of the federal government.

Fellows operate with wide latitude for individual initiative in planning and executing solutions to problem, and spend a significant portion of their time co-working and collaborating with other Fellows. Throughout the program, Fellows receive support from partners in the White House and change-agents across various federal agencies.

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