Only One Week Remaining to Apply for the Presidential Innovation Fellows Spring 2017 Cohort!
Washington, D.C. - 6 December 2016 - Only one week remains before the December 11, 2016 deadline to join the elite Fellows working with the government to significantly impact innovation for the American people. The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program is seeking talented, diverse entrepreneurs, technologists, designers, design strategists and changemakers who want to tackle some of our nation’s biggest challenges. The PIF program is a nonpartisan method for techies and nerds to serve a “tour of duty” to effect change in the government for the betterment of the people. Changes in administrations create uncertainty, but one thing is certain--there is and will be a pressing need for innovation within the Federal government, and you can have a significant impact on the future of America.
Fellows selected for the 2017 Spring class will likely:
Reimagine the next generation of the nation’s air traffic control system
Create jobs and economic impact by leveraging our federal investments in research and development
Help cities move toward smart city technologies
Expand broadband access to families that are currently underserved
Help veterans more easily get the services and help they need
Innovate assistance to disaster survivors
Radically improve outcomes for children and families in the foster care system
Since 2012, the Presidential Innovation Fellows have:
Created Every Kid in a Park, a program that gave over 2 million free passes to 4th graders to increase enjoyment of our wonderful national parks
Helped rescue Healtcare.gov
Founded 18F to build effective, user-centric digital services focused on the interaction between government and the people and businesses it serves
Unlocked silo’d data during Hurricane Sandy to share information via social media about which gas stations and schools were open
Developed openFDA to unlock millions of files on drug side effects
Founded the White House student film festival
Opened data and innovated crowdsourced design at the IRS
Improved the appeals process at the VA
Mobilized $4 Billion in private-sector clean energy pledges
Developed Lantern Live Mobile Application to help survivors find gas and power during disasters
Allowed private citizens to download their health records through Blue Button
Created the Veterans Experience Office
Decreased disaster assessment time with GeoQ
Innovated our nation’s historic treasures at the Smithsonian
Improved our nation’s energy efficiency through Green Button and Smart Cities initiative
Globally Developed Open Data with MCC/USDA/USAID
Supported asteroid hunting and citizen science
Founded the Police Data Initiative, a community of practice of more than 130 police departments who have collectively released more than 175 data sets on police activities in order to build trust, increase accountability and paint a more complete picture of the complexity of modern policing
Hosted the first White House Mapathon and set policy of commitment to open mapping
Created the VA Innovators Network
Accelerated the adoption of digital acquisition practices
Made National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration data available to the public at no net cost to the government, to enable private sector innovation and economic growth
… and the list continues to grow.
After their “tour of duty”, many Fellows return to industry but many have held high-level positions within the government:
Jeff Chen - Chief Data Scientist of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Greg Godbout - Executive Director of 18F, Chief Technology Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency
Dr Tyrone Grandison - Deputy Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce (2015-16)
Ian Kalin - Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Marina Martin - Chief Technology Officer of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Ryan Panchadsaram - Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States
Aaron Snow - Executive Director of 18F
Sarah Brooks - Chief Design Officer of VA, first such office in cabinet-level department.
And you could be the next one to join their ranks! You can learn more about what the alumni have accomplished and are currently addressing at https://www.presidentialinnovation.org/learn-more-about-pifs/.
The shift from a rolling admission to a cohort model means a much tighter deadline for you to apply! The PIF Foundation is the alumni organization that supports the PIF Program in their mission and provides a strong community of people intent on finding the third way to solve problems. The PIF Foundation is encouraging anyone with a will to make a difference to apply at https://apply.pif.gov. Know someone you think would be perfect for the role? Encourage them to apply. We need your help in ensuring America has the best and brightest innovators for 2017! Remember, the deadline is December 11th, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST.
If you are interested in talking personally to a Presidential Innovation Fellow, please contact the PIF Foundation at [email protected] or reach out to us on Twitter @PIFAlum. For more information about the PIF Program, visit the government website at https://presidentialinnovationfellows.gov/.