ACT-IAC Institute for Innovation and the Federal Innovation Council (FIC) are seeking volunteers to support a collaborative project focused on making innovation more repeatable, learnable, and actionable across government. This effort on Developing a Government Innovation Practice will help define what innovation looks like in a government context and produce practical resources that agencies and practitioners can use to strengthen innovation capabilities.
Project Background
Government talks about innovation constantly, but treats it as a mindset, an event, or a buzzword rather than a practice. As a result, innovation is inconsistent, hard to teach, and even harder to repeat. When a talented innovator leaves, their know-how leaves with them. New employees who want to innovate have no clear on-ramp. And leaders who want to build innovation capability have no shared language, no common reference, and no practical playbook to point to.
This gap isn’t due to a lack of innovation in government, but rather that innovation hasn’t been define as a practice so that it is repeatable, learnable, and expected.
The “Ecosystem” Reframe
We are deliberately not building an "innovation ecosystem." That term is too nebulous to act on, and it implies starting from scratch. A vibrant innovation community already exists across federal, state, local, and industry partners.
Instead, we are developing a government innovation practice — defining innovation in observable, measurable, teachable terms so it can be learned, applied, and spread. Our guiding statement is: Make innovation in government repeatable, learnable, and expected.
Project Objective
Foster innovation as a core competency in government by activating and strengthening the practices that already exist — and by giving practitioners a shared language, a Capability/Competency Model, and practical tools they can use immediately.
Project Deliverables
The Government Innovator's Guide — the central product. A practical, plain-language resource that includes:
- A working definition of innovation in observable, measurable terms (a practice, not a mood)
- An embedded Capability/Competency Model — the skills, behaviors, and attributes of highly effective government innovators, expressed in measurable terms and organized by maturity level
- A curated set of references, approaches, checklists, and available resources
An "Innovation in Government" Training Module — modular and portable, designed to drop into ACT-IAC programs or any agency's existing training, so the practice can scale beyond this team.
Project Approach
Phase 1 — Research & Definition: Landscape existing frameworks; define innovation in measurable terms; identify the characteristics and capabilities that distinguish effective innovators.
Phase 2 — Listening & Use Cases: Crowdsource definitions (conference pulse surveys, LinkedIn polls); issue a call for innovation use cases; analyze them (including with LLM assistance) to surface common components and maturity levels — and to bring in new voices from state, local, and the private sector.
Phase 3 — Build: Author the Guide and Capability/Competency Model; develop the portable training module; review, test, and refine with practitioners.
Time Commitment
The anticipated commitment will vary depending on each volunteer’s availability and interest, but participants should expect periodic working sessions, review cycles, and opportunities to contribute between meetings. Estimated time commitment is approximately 1 hour per week but could change as project milestones are refined as the team organizes the work.
Invitation to Participate
If you are interested in helping define, document, and advance innovation practices in government, we welcome your participation. We are looking for contributors with a range of perspectives and experience levels, including those with backgrounds in public sector innovation, research, training, change management, program design, and collaboration across government and industry.
SIGN UP by June 26, 2026
Call for Project Volunteers: Developing a Government Innovation Practice – Fill out form
