Know What's Happening in GovTech
Know What's Happening in GovTech
Public sector organisations view data as a strategic asset, yet many treat data strategy as a one‑off document that quickly becomes obsolete. The article outlines common pitfalls—treating strategy as paperwork, ignoring people and culture, lacking clear purpose, and failing to maintain an ongoing process. It then proposes a holistic, continuous approach that blends people, process, technology, and governance to turn data initiatives into tangible citizen outcomes. Made Tech offers expertise to assess maturity, align goals, and embed a living data program across government agencies.
The OpenID Foundation released a report urging the creation of a global digital‑estate framework to protect deceased users’ online accounts. It warns that the absence of consistent standards leaves devices, social media, email and cryptocurrency vulnerable to fraud, especially as...
London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street, aiming to create a world‑leading urban space. While the pedestrianisation scheme is promoted as a safety boost, the mayor has not ruled out deploying live facial‑recognition cameras in the area....
UK‑based SRT Marine Systems has signed a $261 million contract with a sovereign government to deliver a national Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) system. The solution will fuse coastal sensors, vessel‑tracking, radar and satellite feeds into a single operational picture for security,...
The Modern Analytics for Roadway Safety (MARS) Coalition is urging Congress to modernise federal road safety programs by adopting AI, telematics and predictive analytics. These technologies allow agencies to spot crash risks before they materialise, moving from reactive to preventive...
The European Union’s revised anti‑money‑laundering (AML) and counter‑terrorist financing framework transfers crime‑detection duties from public authorities to private banks and other obliged entities. By mandating extensive collection of personal and transactional data, the rules compel institutions to flag customers as...
The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) released the “Principles for Securing Personal Data in Government Services,” a ten‑point framework to help departments share personal data securely and comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. Developed by the Office of...
Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) has secured £168 million from UKRI to broaden secure access to administrative data across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. England will receive £66.2 million, while the other three nations each obtain roughly £25‑£26 million. The funding will...
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) launched a new digital grant service in December 2025, comprising two linked platforms – Deliver grant funding for teams and Access grant funding for recipients. Built on a single codebase, the system...
Historic England has awarded ESRI a £889,005 contract for a Vertical Application System under the Crown Commercial Service’s Vertical Applications Solutions framework (Lot 3). The system will boost the agency’s ability to manage and analyse spatial data across heritage, housing, environment...
AI workloads are prompting a fundamental redesign of Middle East data centres, shifting from legacy digital architectures to AI‑centric designs. Huawei’s SuperPoD solution, announced at MWC 2026, delivers up to 96.6% UPS efficiency and a 25% smaller footprint to meet soaring...
State and local governments are rapidly deploying generative AI to streamline core functions, from public‑defender video analysis to contract drafting and permitting. Tools like JusticeText have cut video review time, raising case clearance rates by roughly 8‑9 percent, while AI‑powered...
Victoria will grant every worker the right to work from home at least two days a week starting September 1, after a bill is introduced to parliament in July. The legislation would make Victoria the first Australian jurisdiction to codify remote‑work...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU filed an amicus brief urging the Third Circuit to require a warrant for electronic device searches at the border. The brief centers on U.S. v. Roggio, where agents seized a traveler’s laptop, tablet,...
The article warns that government officials risk becoming overly passive by habitually clicking the AI‑generated ‘Yes’ button, a phenomenon known as automation bias. It argues that the allure of speed and convenience can mask hidden algorithmic biases, compromising decision quality....
SeeYouDoc, a Filipino health‑tech startup founded in 2018, has become a leading digital healthcare platform linking patients, clinicians, hospitals and local government units via web and mobile apps. The solution delivers telemedicine, digital prescriptions, electronic health records, appointment scheduling and...
Vietnam’s rapid 5G rollout is reshaping both urban and rural economies, with tens of thousands of base stations enabling real‑time data, AI‑driven traffic and flood management, and new digital services. Smart city pilots in Hanoi illustrate how low‑latency connectivity powers...
New Zealand has rolled out an artificial‑intelligence scribe tool across every emergency department, giving more than 1,250 clinicians automated note‑taking support. The pilot showed doctors could see an extra patient per shift, and post‑deployment surveys reported 80% of staff noting productivity...
The Office of Personnel Management’s effort to consolidate federal HR IT into a single modern system faces fresh setbacks as IBM and Economic Systems Inc. filed GA GAO protests over their exclusion from a 10‑year, potentially $1 billion contract. The procurement, now...
The University of Cambridge has launched the Cambridge DPI Regulatory Programme to help governments align digital identity regulations. The initiative, led by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and its spinoff Financial Innovation for Impact, will produce four reports and...
The Office of Personnel Management has launched the Tech Force initiative, a temporary hiring program that will bring roughly 1,000 early‑career tech workers into federal agencies for two‑to‑four‑year stints. The effort is backed by a coalition of about 30 major...
The Pentagon has labeled Anthropic a supply‑chain risk, forcing prime contractors and their subcontractors to assess, report, and wind down any reliance on Anthropic’s AI tools. This unprecedented move targets a domestic vendor and extends beyond DoD contracts, prompting agency‑wide...
Government agencies face mounting cyber threats as legacy systems impede Zero Trust adoption, with 66% citing outdated infrastructure as the biggest barrier. AI‑enhanced Zero Trust offers a pragmatic layer that integrates with existing environments, enabling adaptive authentication, real‑time monitoring, and...
Nonprofit design studio Civilla released a report and toolkit to help states rapidly adapt Medicaid eligibility systems to the new work‑requirement provisions of HR 1. The resources include user‑tested online application templates, policy guidance, and recommendations such as integrating work‑related questions...
Federal leaders highlighted escalating AI security risks at Zscaler’s Public Sector Summit, noting that over 70% of AI‑generated code goes unchecked and 90% of AI systems were compromised within 90 minutes in a recent red‑team test. The discussion emphasized the...
The OECD’s 2025 Digital Government Index (DGI) places South Korea at the top with a 0.95 composite score, followed by Australia (0.88) and Portugal (0.86). Korea is the only nation to break the 0.9 threshold across all six assessment categories,...
New regulations for shared e‑bikes in New South Wales give Transport for NSW and local councils expanded powers to approve operators, enforce standards, and levy penalties. The reforms respond to a 200% jump in daily e‑bike trips during the 2024‑25...
TikTok has launched a legal defence in Dublin against the Irish Data Protection Commission’s €530 million fine, arguing it can safely transfer European user data to China. The case will determine whether TikTok must halt all data flows to Beijing unless...
The UK government has released a pre‑release of Digital Verification Services (DVS) Trust Framework 1.0, superseding the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework for business readiness. The new framework aligns formally with the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and...
ESChat announced its broadband push‑to‑talk platform is now available to users of the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA‑RICS). The integration leverages the Project 25 Inter‑Sub‑System Interface (ISSI) to connect ESChat with the LA‑RICS LMR network, supporting over 800 P25...
Switzerland’s e‑ID programme, which barely passed a referendum with 50.39 % support, has been postponed to December 2026 to address security and trust concerns. The delay follows criticism over encryption gaps and data‑privacy safeguards, prompting new requirements such as a public register...
Cybersecurity firm SOCRadar discovered an unsecured Elasticsearch server hosting roughly 676 million U.S. identity records, including full Social Security Numbers, names, dates of birth, addresses, and phone numbers. The 91.72 GB dataset was publicly accessible without authentication, exposing more records than the...
Lesotho and UNICEF have signed a 2026 work plan to build a national digital identity ecosystem using the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP). The agreement, witnessed by senior officials from the Ministry of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation...
Ireland aims to digitise 100% of its key public services by 2030, leveraging a Life Events approach that groups services around citizen milestones. The Digital Public Services Plan 2030 outlines 20 objectives and 90 deliverables, targeting 90% digital uptake for...
State and local governments are urged to prioritize foundational work—standardization and modernization—before chasing AI and automation. CDW experts Neil Graver and Steve Horvath argue that aligning people, processes, and platforms reduces legacy debt and improves citizen services. They stress human‑centered...
Federal agencies are turning to AI and automation to revamp technology lifecycle management (TLM) as the federal workforce shrinks by roughly 317,000 employees in 2025. Real‑time asset visibility and predictive analytics enable proactive maintenance, allowing agencies to shift resources from...
India’s National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) will undergo a major revamp as NITI Aayog seeks a private‑sector partner to redesign, operate and hand over the system. The upgrade aims to handle vastly larger data volumes, add advanced analytics and...
The Office of Personnel Management unveiled the Federal Workforce Data (FWD) platform, superseding the two‑decade‑old FedScope system. FWD delivers monthly refreshed data and interactive tables that illuminate federal employee demographics and agency staffing trends. OPM Director Scott Kupor highlighted the platform’s...
The California Privacy Protection Agency fined PlayOn Sports, the nation’s leading high‑school ticketing platform, $1.1 million for violating state privacy law. The agency found the company collected student data and served targeted ads without a clear, in‑platform opt‑out mechanism, forcing users...
Seven major tender packages for a high‑speed rail network were released by Infrastructure Minister Catherine King. The tenders call for advisers to develop detailed planning, secure environmental and planning approvals, and refine the business case for cost, schedule and benefits....
Google filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to deem geofence warrants unconstitutional. The brief argues that location data stored in the cloud is protected by the Fourth Amendment and that such warrants sweep up thousands of innocent people....
Technimount has launched the Techni-INO, a crash‑tested bracket that securely holds D‑Size INOmax gas cylinders during EMS transport. The solution complies with SAE J3043 safety standards, reducing the risk of cylinders becoming projectiles in collisions or sudden stops. It incorporates...
Japan has authorized Toshiba Digital Engineering to install private‑sector applications in the unused space of the My Number Card’s IC chip, turning the national ID into a platform‑style digital identity. The move allows regulated businesses to run services on the...
St. Lucia has unveiled the National Authentication Framework (NAF), a centralized digital identity system that provides a single sign‑on experience for accessing public services through the DigiGov portal and a forthcoming mobile app. The first phase targets citizens and legal...
Papua New Guinea is advancing its digital public infrastructure (DPI) with a pilot that uses the SevisPass digital ID and SevisWallet app to enable remote KYC for online bank account openings, led by MiBank and the government. The rollout is...
Bermuda announced a phased plan to become the world’s first fully on‑chain national economy, partnering with Circle and Coinbase. The strategy relies on regulated pilots that embed stablecoin‑based payments into government services, banks, insurers and merchants. Rather than mandating crypto...
Working on building a Responsible AI Workforce Readiness solution designed specifically for California counties — helping public sector teams adopt AI safely, ethically, and in compliance with emerging state regulations. What are you working on?
Not "could be", all adults WILL be forced to verify their ID on social media. You can't only verify children's IDs, you have to verify everyone's to know who is children.
Washington state lawmakers let House Bill 2515 die, ending a broad attempt to regulate data centers. The bill would have imposed extra utility charges, mandated clean‑energy compliance, and required power curtailments during grid peaks, potentially raising $30 million annually for low‑income...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, ACLU, and Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to declare geofence warrants unconstitutional. Geofence warrants force companies to hand over location data for every device within...
