World Economic Forum opens global GovTech centre for public sector collaboration
The facility is the latest to open in a global network aimed at knowledge-sharing between authorities across the globe.
Located in Berlin, the World Economic Forum [WEF] GovTech Campus Deutschland aims to showcase innovation, digital transformation, and the application of emerging technologies within the public sector. Connected to a GovTech innovation ecosystem comprising experts across the world, it adds to a growing network of national and local governments.
The facility was announced at the WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, last week. 2024’s event ran with the theme ‘Rebuilding Trust’, with transparency, open collaboration, and knowledge-sharing high priorities.
‘The new centre in Germany will act as a hub for the forum’s GovTech Network and launch workstreams to scale up existing initiatives that are aimed to unlock the massive potential digital technologies hold for more effective public services and for creating new public value,’ said Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum.
‘The Global Government Technology Centre will have a direct impact on high-priority government initiatives, for example, in bringing forward AI solutions for the public sector. This strong collaboration between start-ups and government can be crucial in developing and testing democracy-compliant AI solutions. And it will offer German start-ups further business cases in the GovTech field,’ added Robert Habeck, German Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
The WEF’s global GovTech network now has campuses in Austin and Detroit, USA, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, India, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. It is predicted the ‘govtech’ sector – technologies powering governments at all levels – will be worth $1trillion by 2028, in part driven by the need to create new efficiencies and the road to net zero.
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Image: Florian Wehde