Ours has become an “experience economy” in which people have shifted from passive consumption of products or services to active participation in the process. Recognizing this shift, many companies now invest in the delivery of experiences — what might be called the Amazon-ification of retailing.
Innovation activities with a human-centered design principle powered by a thorough understanding of what people want and need and what they like or dislike about the way a particular service is provided is now very important for Govt.
“Citizens are behaving more like shareholders, leaders more like management … to get your license renewed, when you can buy the whole bloody car online? … To put it another way, the more people want government to become as quick and efficient as Amazon.com, the more government has to operate like Amazon.com”. ..Thomas L. Friedman
Imagine a single, central website that could answer any question you had about government and whether it can help you. One portal where you could log in, and with a tool as familiar as Google search, ask: “how can I apply for a passport?” “is it illegal to fish without a license in Washington, DC?” “where do I vote?” “what do I do if my disability claim is taking too long?” “what forms do I need to establish my business?” No matter your query, you are met with an actionable answer, or a way to contact a human being who can help you with your request.
Just knowing what’s available is hard enough, but knowing what part of government you should approach can be even more maddening. So putting together a single online resource like this is no small task. It would require the collaboration of local, state, and federal governments and agencies that have immense amounts of overlap in their missions and are very protective of their individually appropriated budgets. Staff at every level and in every agency would have to standardize processes and databases so they could talk to each other, or at least to a central organizing mechanism. And it would require a bunch of human beings to manage it.
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.
https://gsafas.secure.force.com/apply
