In the Civic Tech Field Guide, we primarily focus on examples of govtech that seek to improve society to make it more just and democratic, not just more digital or efficient. We recognize that this is a subjective, values-based perspective of govtech. There is a much larger government IT industry that exceeds this focus.

Related resources:

• The Global Public Impact of GovTech: A $9.8 Trillion Opportunity. World Economic Forum report (2025)
• The 2023 GovTech 100
• Companies Made Millions Building Unemployment Websites That Didn’t Work by Colin Lecher for The Markup (2020)
• Thinking About Govtech (PDF): An introduction to govtech, why it matters, and barriers to adoption (2019)
• Do you know how your country’s state of digital development compares? Find out by exploring the OECD’s Going Digital indicators.
• Building an AI World: a CIFAR Report on National and Regional AI Strategies
• A Digital government reading list (2020)