This article is written by Enrique Zapata, Principal Executive for Govtech, Data Intelligence and Open Government at CAF, development bank of Latin America.

  • The problem: Sustainable Development Goals can be difficult to achieve
  • Why it matters: They’re vitally important to the future of our planet
  • The solution: Get inspiration from 17 successful govtech startups

Govtech is a public-private partnership between governments and innovative private sector partners – mainly startups – that aims to solve public problems with data, technology and innovation.

As this understanding of govtech is relatively new at the global level, a current misunderstanding of govtech revolves around its scope; about what sort of problems it can solve. A common conception is that govtech is geared either for the internal working of government (finance, human resources, contracting, etc. ) or for public services for citizens (payments, licenses, permits, etc.) akin to digital government solutions deploying government technologies to become more efficient, transparent and responsive. This is far from its true potential. Govtech can be used to design and deliver any policy in any sector; and plenty of countries are using it to help to achieve any and all of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Our list of 17 startups for 17 goals is far from a comprehensive tally of everything that is out there, but instead a guide to current best practice — and a map to help fully understand what lies behind the true promise of govtech.

1. No poverty: Incluyeme, in Spain, promotes inclusive jobs in Latin America by facilitating the entrance of disabled people in the labour market.

2. Zero Hunger: EncantadoDeComerte, in Spain, links food suppliers with final consumers to create a marketplace for food surplus from hotels and restaurants.

3. Good Health and Wellbeing: Predicto, in Colombia, uses computer vision to measure changes in the blood flow of a patient's face through their cell phone camera.

4. Quality Education: Blended, in Argentina, is a mobile first school-parent communication system serving over 200 schools in the country.

5. Gender Equality: Medicapt works in 46 countries by using data, encryption and cybersecurity mechanisms to reveal patterns of large-scale sexual violence.

6. Clean Water and Sanitation: Aquosmic, in Mexico, uses satellite data and AI to measure water quality anywhere in the world.

7. Affordable and Clean Energy: Sitema.bio, in Mexico, is a prefabricated modular biodigester that includes a full suite of biogas appliances and connections to turn organic waste into renewable biogas.

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth: Workana, in Argentina matches jobseekers with labour needs.

9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: Connect Robotics, in Portugal, helps to automate delivery through drones.

10. Reduced Inequalities: Acivilate in the United States, is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company committed to reducing recidivism.

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities: Vikua, in Latin America, supports the evolution to smart cities through the use of IoT and AI to create a modular City Management Software that can be contextualised to the needs of any government.

12. Responsible Consumption and Production: Alquilab, in Peru, connects used products with interested parties to create a circular and sustainable economy.

13. Climate Action: Green Urban Data, in Spain, is a software platform with a global database with environment parameters for decision-making processes.

14. Life Below Water: RanMarine, in the United States is developing water drones to help governments clean water and monitor water quality in real time.

15. Life on Land: Munidigital, in Argentina, created an app so that citizens can georeference trees in their communities and achieve a better management of municipalities’ land and natural resources.

16. Peace Justice and Strong Institutions: OS City, in Panama, developed ‘Smart CID’ a platform to support the government with answers to citizen requests of information with AI.

17. Partnership for the goals: Govtech Lab Platform, from CAF, is the first regional initiative aimed at supporting the govtech ecosystem in Latin America and beyond, through technical and financial support from governments, regional investment initiatives and actionable knowledge to help strengthen the delivery of public policies to achieve our shared global goals.

We live in an era in which the complexity of the public problems faced by humanity asks for new paradigms of how governments understand and organise themselves to solve these issues.

Govtech holds the potential to create an agile, entrepreneurial government – but has a crucial difference from other innovation and openness agendas. Govtech is a model for building public sector capacities outside the state, but in its terms and for its benefits. More than a sector, such as fintech is for finance, govtech is a space in which governments can tap to achieve the SDGs and greater wellbeing for all. It’s time to watch this space.

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