GSA announces 2021 Presidential Innovation Fellows

The federal government is set to gain 34 "entrepreneurs in residence." The General Services Administration (GSA) released the 2021 cohort of Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) today.

The PIF program places technologists with federal agency partners for a year to work on technology and citizen needs. The 2021 cohort includes fellows with qualifications in data science, software engineering, product, design, and entrepreneurship, according to the GSA blog post announcing the upcoming cohort. However, the program's virtual beginning this year, as well as this cohort's distinction as the most diverse cohort of fellows to date, set the group apart.

PIFs will work across 22 federal agencies on 26 projects.

One venture involves addressing COVID-19 through the development of digital health platforms and diagnostic technologies with the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institute of Health.

"Presidential Innovation Fellows have played critical roles in the government’s response to multiple crises since the program’s inception,” PIF Executive Director Joshua Di Frances wrote in the post. "I'm extremely proud that this new cohort serves as another great example of PIFs stepping up during a crisis, using their diverse areas of expertise to serve the American public."