Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldThe Tech > Emerging tech - (317)
Emerging tech that could make outsized contributions to existing battles.
Suggested reading: Pathways Through the Portal: A Field Scan of Emerging Technologies in the Public Interest
Showing 317 Results
Science Secretary launches new Regulatory Innovation Office to speed up public access to new technologies
Sentinel
Washington, DCConservation X Labs’ Sentinel transforms wildlife monitoring tools — like trail cameras and acoustic recorders — with revolutionary and intuitive AI technology, processing environmental data in real-time as it’s collected.
Nucleic Acid Barcode Identification Tool (NABIT)
Washington, DCThe NABIT (Nucleic Acid Barcode Identification Tool) is a low-cost, hand-held, field-ready automated tool to validate the identity of a wildlife or food product, anywhere in the world, without specialized training, equipment, reagents, or even continuous power.
Earth Fire Alliance
United States of America (the)Earth Fire Alliance is a global, community-led, non-profit coalition aligned to deliver transformative real-time data from all fires on Earth.
In conjunction with OpenStreetMap, we are creating tools that we hope will enable the mapping community to enjoy a faster & more accurate mapping experience. To this end, we used artificial intelligence to predict features on high-resolution satellite imagery; these features are then populated in our RapiD map editing tool. When combined with global-scale humanitarian efforts, we hope RapiD can help realize our vision of a more connected world.
DEMOCRACY X
Denmark (Danmark)In 2023, the Danish Board of Technology and ParticipationDenmark merged. We are now called DEMOCRACY X, with a focus on technology, society and sustainability.
Radiant Earth
Washington, DCIncreasing shared understanding of our world through community-led initiatives that make data easier to access and use.
Clay
Washington, DCClay is a nonprofit team on a mission to make Earth observation as useful and ubiquitous as a Google search. We believe in using open, responsible AI to make Earth observation a force for positive change.
deliberAIde
BerlinWe are developing an end-to-end platform for in-person, online and hybrid deliberative participation processes, starting with: AI-assistance for defining the process; anonymously transcribing and documenting deliberations; summarization and in-depth analysis; and final reporting.
Auglinn
Wilmington, DEDrop notes and questions outdoors with augmented reality, and create 2D and 3D maps. Interact with citizens outdoors and let the city speak.
NYC Smart City Testbed
New York CityThe NYC Smart City Testbed Program is inspiring innovation within City government by streamlining and accelerating the citywide process for piloting emerging technologies.
The Things Network
AmsterdamWe are a global collaborative Internet of Things ecosystem that creates networks, devices and solutions using LoRaWAN®.
Let's build an open, free and community-owned IoT data network for New York!
Improving the Energy Efficiency of Buildings with Drones
New York CityDeveloped out of NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, Building Diagnostic Robotics (BDR) created robotics tools and AI analytics to aid in assessing building envelope efficiency.
Air Quality Improvement and Monitoring
New York City6-month pilot of three pole-mounted static air quality machines
Bringing together 50 members of the UK public to deliberate on the use of biometrics technologies like facial recognition.
Atlas of Urban AI
Barcelona, SpainATLAS is a crowdsourced (map) repository of projects happening in cities involving the use of artificial intelligence systems.
Talk to the City
San FranciscoTalk to the City is an open-source LLM interface for improving collective deliberation and decision-making by analyzing detailed, qualitative data. It aggregates responses and arranges similar arguments into clusters.
Gov.UK Incubator for Artificial Intelligence
10 Downing StreetThe [UK] Government is establishing an elite team of highly empowered technical experts at the heart of government. Their mission is to help departments harness the potential of AI to improve lives and the delivery of public services.
AfricaOSH
AfricaThe African affiliate of the global Open Science Hardware community, plus its global summit
Chat2024
United States of America (the)An AI startup's chatbots representing each of the 17 major US presidential candidates.
JournalismAI's project gallery
Houghton Street London WC2A 2AESix AI tools under active development by professional newsrooms
Creating knowledge and strategies for responsible, ethical and inclusive automated decision-making.
The Civic AI Observatory
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)Nesta and Newspeak House announce the Civic AI Observatory (civicai.uk), an initiative to support civic organisations plan and adapt to the rapidly evolving field of Generative AI.
Civicspace.tech
Washington, DCA collection of approachable but well-researched primers on emerging tech and potential benefits and risks
AI4D-Lab
DodomaThe AI4D multidisciplinary research lab run by two public academic institutions in Tanzania, UDOM & NM-AIST. We set forth an objective to establish a multidisciplinary AI4D lab that fosters capacity development, research and innovation in responsible AI and its application in addressing societal and developmental problems in Africa.
AI Impact Lab
United States of America (the)At AI Impact Labs, we are dedicated to helping nonprofits and mission-driven companies stay ahead of the curve by providing comprehensive support and training on using generative AI in their workflows.
Anticipatory Innovation
OECD, Rue André Pascal, Paris, FrancePublic sector needs to prepare for what is coming next, continuously identify, test and implement innovative solutions to benefit from future opportunities while reducing the risks through increased resilience of their public systems. To facilitate that OPSI has developed an Anticipatory Innovation Governance (AIG) model.
Eye In The Sky
PortugalUsing High-Altitude Balloons [and drones] for Decision Support in Wildfire Operations
The first object interaction app for the visually impaired. iOS only.
Jacobs Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Cornell TechMaking cities stronger, fairer, and more resilient through responsible technology.
Mozilla AI
Mountain View, CA, USAA startup — and community — building trustworthy and open-source AI.
A course from the Departamento de Inteligencia Artificial in Boadilla del Monte, Spain
Beyond Borders: Satellite Applications for Humanitarian Emergencies
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)A report by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub
MethaneSAT
United States of America (the)A better and faster way to track methane
Public Interest AI explainer site
Humboldt-Institut Berlin, Invalidenstraße, Berlin, GermanyA project map of Public Interest AI and related research
First AI-written speech delivered by US congressman
Capitol HillRepresentative for Massachusetts Jake Auchincloss used ChatGPT to help introduce legislation supporting AI research
CS Fund is launching a new funding program on Just Transitions to advance social and ecological justice for a future grounded in justice, joy, belonging, and liberation for all beings.
Project Dokaz Alliance
450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USAThis project brings together leading innovators from the international criminal law community with pioneers in the Web3 ecosystem to develop secure and resilient solutions for accountability in Ukraine.
Starling Lab
CaliforniaA new methodology to restore trust in digital media
United States Department of State's Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology
Washington, DCSecretary Blinken established the office as part of the wider modernization agenda because the constellation of critical and emerging technologies reshaping the world is now an integral part of the conduct of U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy.
What if we worked together to enable learner sovereignty, mobility and agency?
Great King Machines
India (Bhārat)We manufacture embedded city maintenance machines for city civic and green agencies to upgrade to new standards of service to the citizens.
Low-Cost Sensors and Systems for Ocean Discovery
Rhode IslandWe are creating low-cost, easy-to-use deep-sea systems that gather the most critical data to inform environmental decision-making and deployment strategies.
Pathways Through the Portal: A Field Scan of Emerging Technologies in the Public Interest
118 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USAA COVID-era research project into emerging technologies and their use for the public interest
LandOS facilitates project design, due diligence, finance and certification – all key to unlocking supply at scale.
A collection of essays edited by Ana Brandusescu and Jess Reia featuring essays from participants of the AI in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust symposium that took place remotely on February 10, 2022.
Dark Data Project
TorontoThe Dark Data Project helps organizations uncover, deobfuscate, semantify and analyze problematic datasets
Get email updates
Helpful Links
Reach Out
A project of
With support from
National Endowment for Democracy
Founding Organization
Civic Hall
Technology partner
Civic Tech Field Guide