Govtech – Innovative Technology Trends in the Public Sector
Technological disruption has permeated everyone’s life in recent times. This has led to governments and public institutions to realize they can’t remain indifferent and must make the most of these new resources.
Considering the upheavals that the private sector has seen over the last decade, both in terms of process concerns and user experience, the public sector is still a long way from meeting the standards that the world’s most successful corporations have established.
As a result, Govtech arose as a solution to the bureaucracy and inefficiency in the interaction between individuals and the public sector, utilizing cutting-edge technical advancements to modernize the relationship between citizens and various government agencies.
Prevalent Govtech Trends
Numerous administrations, particularly those in more developed countries, have realized that they can no longer afford to stay passive when so much positive transformation is needed. Trends that were previously only on the horizon like the internet of things (IoT), Artificial intelligence (AI), and digital twins are now solidly on the action plan of governments and social entities.
1. Public Service Automation and Artificial Intelligence
Automation has become an integral part of almost every industry imaginable, and the government isn’t an exception. Public and civil servants are using more AI-powered “cobots” to boost their capacity to seek out information, automate monotonous activities such as form-filling, or manage public databases and national records archives.
Considering the mandatory and sometimes critical scope of services they provide, governments must undoubtedly give unique considerations to specific AI applications.
Once citizens are confident that AI-powered assistants, chatbots, and cobots can save them time, we will surely see them used in various additional public service roles, just as we are seeing in the private sector.
2. Virtual Currencies
With the rise of cryptocurrency, more countries anticipate creating their own virtual currencies in the future.
These currencies will have the advantage of remaining under the jurisdiction of the issuing governments while providing many of the structural benefits of current cryptocurrencies, such as the elimination of a need for bank accounts to deposit money or payment systems to spend them.
The apparent benefits of cryptocurrencies as a monetary system are enough to pique the interest of governments and central banks. However, they still need to consider problems, especially macroeconomic, financial and legal issues besides the energy use and environmental cost that might have political aftermath.
We expect state cryptocurrency to become an essential topic in the next few years.
3. Cybersecurity
Security is usually at the top of the list for national digital goals since state-on-state cyberattacks are on the rise in tandem with criminal cyberattacks.
The public face of this approach is evident in initiatives to disclose and broadcast these attacks to warn the public about the threat and viable defenses. This trend will continue in the coming years as state-sponsored assaults aimed at disrupting business activities, supply chains, and infrastructure remains a danger.
4. Digital Identity
In the digital era, verifying your identity is becoming extremely important for both individuals and governments. Many nations have created centralized systems for monitoring criminal histories and confirming rights to government assistance such as healthcare and subsidies.
Other countries have taken it a step further by introducing national identity cards that are mandatory or optional. Furthermore, identification schemes may or may not contain biometric data such as fingerprints, which they may use to link a person’s physical identity to their digital identity as convincingly as possible.
Leading Govtech startups in Israel
The Govtech scene in Israel is one of the most developed industries in the country, with several pioneering startups leading the line with innovative tech solutions that simplify public administration.
One of these startups is the world’s largest rich-data supplier, with more than 155 million data points delivered yearly. It has created a rich data platform that allows first responders and emergency call centers to communicate with callers via secure omnichannel communication without the need for applications.
The startup plans to offer a single cloud-native solution that will allow first responders, people, and the state to exchange actionable data, resulting in more transparent operations and lifesaving outcomes.
Another SaaS startup formed in 2014 manages sophisticated transit systems in over 1,000 cities worldwide, scheduling vehicle and driver movements to improve transit service quality and dependability while also increasing efficiency.
This startup optimizes bus operations using a powerful combination of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and distributed cloud computing. Service efficiency improves thanks to its ability to quickly develop different scenarios and uncover ideal service offers while lowering emissions and costs. Work becomes quicker and more collaborative on the startup’s cloud-native system.
Another Israeli startup, founded in 2015 and supported by renowned investors such as Softbank Vision Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Eldridge, and DFJ Growth, operates internationally through a system of facilities and partners.
They use Vision AI to drive solutions that will enhance the security of customers, guests, and staff. These solutions include touchless access control and video analytics. This provides the information and alarms needed to keep key stakeholders safe from security threats.
By detecting spatial inconsistencies and utilizing an array of sensors to construct a 3D map to minimize spoofing, this startup’s liveness technology guarantees that every identified face is a real person. This prevents the system from being fooled by printouts or digital photos, which can increase security and prevent forms of identity fraud.
The rise of Govtech Startups Amidst Circumstances
While government agencies aren’t typically known for their responsiveness and ingenuity, govtech has set out to change that. This kind of prevailing thought process has opened the door for a novel brand of startups to enter the market and offer fresh ideas to the task of accelerating the digital transformation in government.
By applying comparable solutions like IoT, edge computing, AI, cloud, super-fast networks – to government and public body issues, many draw their cues from market technology pioneers or innovators in other sectors such as fintech and martech.
Considering the fact that government technology adoption has the potential to touch many aspects of our lives, it’s encouraging to see that innovation is as abundant here as it is in more generally profitable industries.
