Description
The City Council of València, through València Innovation Capital, has launched the GovTech Challenges to address city and municipal service challenges through innovative and even disruptive technologies. Through a project competition, the innovation ecosystem is given the opportunity to propose solutions to challenges identified through the day-to-day work of municipal services that can be addressed through technology.
This initiative aims to:
Improve the quality of life in the city and for the people who live in it, making València
a more inclusive, innovative, and technologically advanced place.
Foster public-private collaboration to jointly identify the best solutions.
Strengthen the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem.
Each challenge is launched as a project competition and published on the Public Procurement Platform, where interested participants can access the guidelines and application forms.
To date, several GovTech challenges have been launched, each at different stages of development and designed to address specific urban challenges. One example is the Accessible Cultural Interpretation Centre, a temporary installation located in front of the Serranos Towers, aimed at enabling people with disabilities to experience this cultural heritage virtually through immersive technologies, overcoming the site’s limited accessibility due to its historical nature.
Another completed challenge is Innovation Indicators, which sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Valencian innovation ecosystem, as existing data was fragmented.
Emergency response in residential buildings has also been addressed through the Fire+10+100 Challenge, which sought solutions to support the Fire Service in evacuating and extinguishing fires in buildings with more than 10 floors or over 100 dwellings.
GovTech Accelerator
Through the GovTech Accelerator, we aim to foster collaboration between startups and the city of València, promoting innovation in addressing urban challenges and transforming public processes and services. The programme is designed to connect entrepreneurial talent with the City Council of València.
During the programme, the 10 selected startups gain direct access to the public sector, connecting with municipal technical teams to identify real needs and strengthen their public value propositions. Participants also receive specialised training and mentoring through six practical modules covering B2G commercial strategy, public procurement, GovTech use case design, and technical scalability.
The GovTech Accelerator has three main objectives:
- Improve municipal public services through an open innovation gateway.
- Attract innovative talent and consolidate a leading GovTech hub in Europe.
- Strengthen the local GovTech ecosystem.