The HHS Idea Lab

Modernizing Government from within

In 2009, the first Chief Technology Officer started at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and in 2013 the IDEA Lab was created to improve how the Department delivers on its mission through innovation approaches and entrepreneurial methods. The IDEA Lab was started as a response from public input to promote management practices centered around three core beliefs:

• Every individual has the ability to improve the health and well-being of Americans;

• People are more powerful when working together; and

• There is a solution to every problem.

While we all wore many hats, the programs I led focused on bringing design and entrepreneurial principles into government processes. These efforts evolved into programs that made up an internal innovation pipeline.

Components of this pipeline included:

• The HHS Ignite Accelerator - for the early stages of discovery and testing

• The HHS Ventures Fund - for the later stages of implementation and scale