State of GovTech 2026

Experts compare frameworks state and local governments are using to evaluate, pilot, and scale AI adoption — what's working, what's stalling, and how to choose a model that fits your organization's size and risk tolerance.

Most govtech spending goes to the application layer — a new system, a new skin on the same problem, another five-year contract. Almost nobody looks at the layer underneath, where the actual tech debt lives. This session makes the case that the data you already own, sitting in systems you've already paid for, can solve more problems than the next procurement will. Bring your data challenges for live workshopping with the panelists.

What does a 'Claude-pilled' company actually look like?  Everyone says they're "AI-native." Almost nobody can show you the receipts. Starbridge COO Jordan Kindler and CRO Matt Stinson can — and they're bringing all of them.  Together, the power duo will walk through how they got an 100+ person organization to actually run on AI: the exact integrations, the real prompts, and the tools used every day across GTM, Ops, and Customer Success.  No theory, no hype - just the playbook, including the messy parts of getting a whole team to change how they work.  This is the session people will be quoting in the hallway afterward. Bring questions!

A panel of key TXShare agency CIOs on the real-world experience of cooperative purchasing — what it solves, where it's still friction, and what other jurisdictions should know before joining a co-op.

When a need doesn’t fit the default procurement path, how do you find — and trust — the one that does? Join Partners for Public Good (PPG) and Civic Marketplace for an interactive working session that takes a real government technology need from problem to procurement. PPG works upstream, helping governments define what they need, strengthen internal capacity and rethink broken processes. Civic Marketplace picks up once the need is clear, connecting local governments with competitively solicited cooperative contracts while helping suppliers navigate the public-sector market and reach government buyers more effectively.

Together, we’ll put both sides of that process to work, helping participants identify what’s slowing them down, determine the right procurement path and leave with a clear next step for moving from months to minutes.

A hands-on workshop on the data foundations that make AI initiatives actually work: data quality and governance, and the newest models and best practices for getting your data AI-ready before you pilot anything.

Six rapid-fire ~7-minute talks from practitioners on innovation in action. Includes:

1. David Hall on Emergency Preparedness Planning for Cities
2. Michael Baskin on AI as a Practice Partner: Towards human government
3. Ben Molin on Building SNAP Screener and SNAP payment error rate reductions.
4. Brian Whittaker on Creating Cultures of Public-service Appreciation
5. Greg Pavlik on Nobody Wants a Dataset, Building Products That Make Government Data Useful

Live pitches from CivStart's curated selection of startups, showcasing new govtech products to a room of government buyers and investors. Featuring: Apellate Ayla CODICE Gostly Grantwell Green Stream Technologies Govstream Labrynth ManyBond Readyly Samora AI