On July 29th, the Embassy of Estonia to the United States and the Institute for Education (IFE), in partnership with the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) Foundation, hosted a “Welcome to the Capital City” evening reception for the two new 2024 Presidential Innovation Fellows cohorts. The event welcomed 33 PIFs (Spring and AI Cohorts) and introduced the newest PIFs to Washington DC’s civic tech community.
The reception was held in the Embassy of Estonia’s newly renovated space; with modern flooring and lighting, the venue’s vibrant and bright energy matched the enthusiasm of the new PIFs. Institute for Education CEO Coach Kathy Kemper welcomed everyone to the event and emphasized the importance of public diplomacy in creating a more engaged, connected diplomatic and civic tech community. Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk continued the formal welcome, highlighting Estonia’s incredible work towards the digital transformation of identification documents and social security, marking the country’s reputation as a “digital-first” government. Estonia’s investment into its digital infrastructure made it the perfect reception host, as the PIF program and Estonia fundamentally have a “shared DNA” in leveraging technology for civic impact and engagement.
Recounting the history that led to PIF’s inception and highlighting the continued relevance of the PIF program, John Paul Farmer (former Senior Advisor for Innovation at the White House and PIF program co-founder), Aneesh Chopra (first U.S. Chief Technology Officer), and Megan Smith (third U.S. CTO) each spoke about the value of having technology experts in the government who can explain and lead innovation technology serving the American people. Because PIFs bring their private sector technology expertise and technical knowledge to the room, innovation can happen in the federal government, where technological progress can be challenging. Each civic tech hero renowned for their legendary contributions to the federal technology community emphasized how the PIF program will continue to be an essential innovation steward serving the American people. Acting PIF director Ryan Ross also gave brief remarks emphasizing how grateful he has been to be welcomed into the community and how optimistic he is about the program’s future thanks to concrete commitments such as the AI talent surge and a strengthened public interest in AI for years to come.
Following these remarks, PIF Foundation President Nathen Huang noted the value of the civic tech community and urged the new PIFs to stay engaged with the broader PIF alumni community, which has the institutional knowledge and connections to support the new cohorts’ civic tech journeys. Then, he called up the new PIFs to receive their pins; the new PIFs delightedly shook hands and smiled for pictures with the community’s civic tech heroes.
Following the program, the Embassy served a lavish and fantastic spread of delicious foods: Kapsarullid (stuffed cabbage), Rosolje (beet and potato salad), cordon bleu chicken rolls, pork cutlets, roasted vegetables, potato dumplings, cherry strudel, and the perfect finish to an optimistic and joyful evening, a sumptuous almond cake.
SPOTTED: H.E. Nicole Bintner-Bakshian (Luxembourg), H.E. Yerzhan Ashikbayev (Kazakhstan), Dr. R David Edelman, DCM Jaime Ramon Torre Ascalon, Jr.(Philippines), DCM Diana Al-Hadid (Jordan), Kelsey Kemper Valentine, Kaivan Shroff, Justin Cole, Ross Dakin, Paul Caron, David Spence, Dr. Gil Alterovitz, Eboni Freeman, Dr. Michelle Holko, Arunan Skandarajah, and Dr. Jackie Kazil.
