World Economic Forum, public.affairs@weforum.org
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 16 January 2024 – The World Economic Forum and GovTech Campus Deutschland, with the support of the City of Berlin and the German federal government, have announced the establishment of the Global Government Technology Centre Berlin (GGTC Berlin).
Government technology is expected to become the biggest software market in the world, reaching a market size of over $1 trillion by 2028. Technological progress is transforming the relationship between citizens, the private sector and the state. This evolution emphasizes the urgent need for all stakeholders to understand the emerging opportunities and risks; it is essential for them to collaboratively pioneer solutions, identify critical challenges and jointly address strategic priorities.
The GGTC Berlin is a first-of-its-kind effort to systematically connect a national GovTech innovation ecosystem with a global network of experts and practitioners to inform and inspire GovTech agendas around the world.
“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. “GovTech may become one of the largest software markets in years to come and drive significant productivity gains for those countries that manage to implement and scale global best practices.”
“With its first federal start-up strategy as well as its digital strategy, the federal government is keen to strengthen the GovTech scene in order to modernize government and public administration,” said Robert Habeck, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany. “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.”
The new centre will leverage the deep national and sub-national expertise and network of the GovTech Campus Deutschland as well as the Forum’s global communities, convening power and technological infrastructure for multistakeholder collaboration. It will be uniquely positioned to accelerate the digital transformation of government and the realization of new ecosystem value at both the national and international levels.
“This partnership between the World Economic Forum and GovTech Campus Deutschland is of great importance for Berlin as a location for innovation and fits perfectly with our city's modernization agenda,” said Kai Wegner, Governing Mayor of Berlin. “It also shows that Berlin is and remains an attractive location for internationally active organizations – not only in a national, but also an international comparison.”
About the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a platform for multistakeholder collaboration bringing together public and private sectors to maximize technological benefits to society while minimizing the risks. The World Economic Forum launched the first Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco in 2017, shortly followed by centres in Japan and India. The network now includes centres in Austin (Centre for Trustworthy Technology), Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Detroit (US Centre for Advanced Manufacturing), Germany (Global Government Technology Centre), Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Norway (HUB Ocean), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Telangana (India), Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
About the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024, taking place on 15-19 January in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, convenes the world’s foremost leaders under the theme “Rebuilding Trust”. For further information, click here.
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