After a three-year test run, President Barack Obama signed an executive order Monday making the Presidential Innovation Fellows a permanent part of the federal government.
The program brings people with proven experience and creative mindsets to government for one-year terms of service, spurring innovation on old problems with an injection of new thinking.
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“What began as an experiment is becoming a success. That’s why I’m making it permanent,” Obama said in a video announcing the executive order. “My hope is this continues to encourage a culture of public service among our innovators and tech entrepreneurs so that we can keep building a government that’s as modern and innovative and as engaging as our incredible tech sector.”
The program is responsible for fostering some of the most innovative parts of the federal government today, including the U.S. Digital Service and 18F.
Innovation, Federal CTO Megan Smith pointed out, is a central part of the American story.
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“It is an evolving and evergreen tradition: At no point in our history have we been without passionate innovators who have used the technology, innovation and design thinking of their time to advance solutions to pressing problems and needs,” she wrote in a blog post announcing the new executive order.
As Innovation Fellows, those people can be brought in from the private sector to make a difference in government and for the nation as a whole.
Program Director Garren Givens noted part of the Innovation Fellows’ power comes from the diversity of its members.
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Once an issue is identified, “We then look to the private sector and focus on building a large pool of candidates with experiences, skills and backgrounds as diverse as the challenges they will face here in government,” he said.
Raphael Majma, a policy and digital services expert with the U.S. Digital Service who got his start in government as a 2012 fellow, echoed that sentiment Monday, grateful for the opportunity the program provided.
“I’m a Mexican-Iranian kid from Texas,” he said in a Tweet. “I didn’t know there was a seat at the table for me. I didn’t know any of this was an option.”
“Together with their federal partners, all of these fellows have helped deliver amazing results,” Givens said. “What binds them and us together is that we all are working to create the best possible government and that all represent the change we want to see.”
