The World Bank, in partnership with SECO, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and Trust Valley, received 136 proposals from startups and SMEs in 33 countries through the GovTech Innovation Challenge. Nearly half of the teams included women in key roles. Participants proposed digital, AI, and geospatial solutions to improve informal sector taxation and e-commerce VAT compliance. Three selected teams will advance to a support program, including mentorship and a boot camp in Switzerland.

The World Bank, in partnership with SECO and Trust Valley, introduces the GovTech Innovation Challenge to boost technology in government services. This initiative connects the Ghana Revenue Authority with innovative companies to solve tax administration challenges. Selected firms will join a Swiss boot camp to refine their solutions and enhance public-private collaboration. This program aims to transform public services and share successful solutions with other World Bank members, fostering global benefits.

The World Bank's GovTech Team has launched a global repository of AI deployments in public administration at the GovTech and Public Sector Innovation Global Forum 2025. This initiative seeks case studies from public institutions using AI in government processes, HR, tax administration, and citizen engagement. Submissions will showcase innovations to a global audience, aid other governments in learning from experiences, and foster cross-country collaboration in AI governance. Selected case studies may be featured in the final repository, with follow-ups for detailed confirmation. 

The GovTech and Public Sector Innovation Global Forum recently concluded its second event, bringing together over 400 in-person participants from 75 countries and thousands more online. The forum featured plenary discussions and breakout sessions focused on collaboration and transformative ideas in the age of AI. Highlights included interactive sessions like "GovTech in Action" world cafés and Discovery Sprints for co-creating solutions to governance challenges. The forum was co-hosted by Austria, Estonia, Korea, Switzerland, OECD, UNDP, Mastercard, Microsoft, Visa, MIT GOV/LAB, and Harvard CID and emphasized global cooperation in advancing GovTech.

We are currently preparing the third edition of the GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI). This index measures digital transformation in the public sector, providing a baseline and benchmark for economies' GovTech maturity, and identifying areas for improvements. The online survey will be launched on March 1, 2025.

Watch the replay of the Global Government Cloud Forum which took place in Dubai in January! Roby Senderowitsch led the Bank’s delegation to the Forum which included Daniel Ortega, Khuram Farooq, Joao Vasconcelos, Charles Blanco, and Reinhard Haslinger who led specific sessions. The Forum was jointly organized between the Government of Dubai and the GovTech/Public Sector Innovation Global Program. The team emphasized the importance of fostering partnerships and announced the upcoming 3rd edition of the GTMI data, and the GovTech Global Forum. Follow the Institutions X for posts, photos, and videos. See coverage in Khaleej Times and Dubai Media Office. 

Join leading thinkers, innovators, and practitioners from around the world to exchange ideas, share best practices, and collaborate on leveraging emerging technologies like AI to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability in public sector institutions. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

The GovTech and Public Sector Innovation team, in collaboration with the Institute for Public Management and Governance and the Institute for Digital Ecosystems from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna), organized the third edition of Ethical Public Roots and Artificial Intelligence (EPURAI). This in-person workshop, took place in Vienna on December 6th, brought together theoretical and empirical perspectives on how robots and AI shape societies, economies, and governments and how they are, in turn, influenced by the people and environments in which they are deployed. The workshop served as a forum for scholars from diverse scientific fields—including administrative sciences, informatics, economics, management, mechanical engineering, and psychology—as well as practitioners from industry, governmental, and non-governmental institutions within the GovTech and Public Sector Innovation policy field, to discuss these issues.

On October 2nd, the GovTech and Public Sector Innovation Global Program launched the Working Group on Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector under the GovTech Global Partnership. The event featured remarks from Dr. 'Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Nigeria. This initiative aims to mobilize knowledge and experience from diverse stakeholders to support countries in adopting sound GovTech practices. Co-chaired by Estonia's Nelle Leosk, Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs, and Nigeria's AI Senior Special Adviser, the Working Group includes 35 governments, private sector organizations, academia, think tanks, and international organizations such as Amazon Web Services, the European Commission, IBM, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and OpenAI. The group will provide thought leadership, facilitate idea exchange, and develop policy tools to help governments implement effective AI policies for smart, inclusive, and citizen-centered public sectors. The group met again in December 2024.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) recently joined the Governance and Institutions (G&I) Umbrella Program. This partnership underscores the shared commitment to strengthening effective, inclusive, and accountable institutions, which are vital to achieving the World Bank’s mission of creating a world free of poverty on a livable planet. The collaboration with SECO will particularly focus on advancing GovTech and Public Sector Innovation, providing both technical and financial support to foster good governance through initiatives such as Anticorruption for Development, Coalitions for Reforms, and Justice and Rule of Law. Learn more about this collaboration in our blog post:

Our colleague, João shared the World Bank's GovTech experience on leadership for digital change in the public sector at the DGX 2024 meeting in Singapore. Learn more about DGX in João’s blog. 

João Ricardo Vasconcelos, from the GovTech and Public Sector Innovation team, was in Oslo to present the Greening Public Administration with GovTech - Volume 1 report. He was also a guest at the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) Podcast, How to Governance - Green Tech. To learn about the pivotal role of Supreme Audit Institutions in the green transition and how digital transformation in government can be leveraged to reduce emissions, not increase them…and much more, watch or listen to the discussion on: