Event | GovTech and Public Sector Innovation Global Forum

The World Bank’s Institutions Global Department and the Innovation for Development Impact Department have announced the second GovTech and Public Sector Innovation Global Forum, scheduled for May 27-28, 2025. This high-level event aims to bring together global experts from government, industry, and academia to explore how emerging technologies can modernize public institutions and accelerate the implementation of innovative governance solutions. For the GovTech and CivicTech sectors, the forum serves as a critical platform for establishing international standards on digital public infrastructure, AI ethics, and citizen-centric service delivery.

The 2025 forum is co-hosted by a diverse coalition including the governments of Austria, Estonia, Korea, and Switzerland, alongside major international organizations and private sector leaders such as the OECD, UNDP, Mastercard, Microsoft, and Visa. Academic insights will be provided by MIT GOV/LAB and Harvard CID, ensuring a research-backed approach to public sector transformation. The event's structure emphasizes interactive engagement through world cafés, deep dives, and firestarter chats, designed to move beyond theoretical discussion into the co-creation of actionable solutions for pressing governance challenges.

Central to the agenda is the integration of artificial intelligence within public administration, focusing on essential enablers like data governance, digital infrastructure, and workforce capabilities. Specific sessions moderated by World Bank experts, including Oleksii Balabushko and Joseph Kizito Mubiru, will address the complexities of algorithmic bias, ethical AI implementation, and the necessity of upskilling the public sector workforce for a digital-first era. Additionally, the forum will tackle the environmental impact of technology through discussions on Green GovTech, led by moderator João Ricardo Vasconcelos, exploring how green procurement and sustainable datacenters can reduce the carbon footprint of the public sector’s digital transition.

The forum also places significant emphasis on CivicTech and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), examining how technologies like digital identity and payments can foster trust and improve responsiveness between citizens and states. Specialized sprints will challenge participants to break down agency silos to create seamless, user-centered services for key life moments, while other sessions will focus on strengthening integrity through data-driven fraud detection in procurement and public financial management. By benchmarking global best practices and co-designing public-private partnership models using the Double Diamond design method, the event seeks to establish a more coherent and inclusive global framework for sustainable public sector innovation.