World Economic Forum unveils Global Government Technology Centre 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.”