What’s GovMesh?

GovMesh aims to convene a small group of governments, facilitating candid discussions between a group of countries that may not usually meet, focusing on specific strengths and weaknesses. The dynamic format will allow countries to be selected based on their specific complementary strengths and weaknesses.

GovMesh 1.0 happened in Singapore on 25 March 2025.

GovMesh 2.0 happened in Berlin, Germany on 4 June 2025.

Why the need for GovMesh?

GovMesh was born out of the idea that when it comes to government innovation, digital government is a uniquely level playing field, where nimble & lean bureaucracies are just as likely to set the pace as the world’s largest economic actors.

How is it conducted?

The event is a full day, closed-door discussion.

Each participant will present on a specific strength in their digital government ecosystem (15 mins), followed by a Q&A session (5 mins).

There is a short reflection exercise after every two-three presentations.

In the afternoon, a collaborative futures co-creation exercise will happen, giving participants a chance to candidly discuss selected digital government themes.

Objectives:

Create a space for countries to have novel discussions about digital government beyond their usual partners
Develop a collection of case studies based on countries' presentations in the morning of the event
Build a community of practice between participating countries

Goal/output:

A GovMesh special report, known as GovMesh Digest, will feature the individual agency stories from this event.

The report will be a work-in-progress to accumulate more of such stories in future GovMesh events.

You can read GovMesh Digest 1.0 here and 2.0 here.

The event will be visually scribed by Wendy Wong from Welenia Studios.

Visual scribing is live capture of ideas, perspectives, conversations, choices, decisions and journeys.

This involves observing and listening to, synthesising and depicting reflections, dialogue and meaning-making. It enables individuals, groups and communities to remember experiences faithfully, befriend realities with wisdom and compassion, and discover futures with courage and hope.

GovMesh 4.0’s theme: Data-driven government

One of the key themes of digital government in the last decade has been data innovation.

Thanks to connectivity innovations like low-cost satellites, the Internet of Things, and more widespread mobile coverage, as well as the adoption of cloud-native platforms and technologies, governments are now able to collect, analyse, and use data they did not previously have access to.

Today, with the advent of machine learning, generative AI, and agentic AI, as well as their increasing ubiquity within government services, the blue-sky concept of The Agentic State has emerged as one blueprint for what data-driven government could realise.

Likewise, data innovation is enabling other e-government concepts such as the once-only principle, a life-events approach to organising digital services, and digital public infrastructure, to come to fruition.

This event will bring together governments across Asia and Europe to discuss their approaches to data innovation, and how they are leveraging data to tackle critical challenges, unlock new opportunities in the space of digital services, and understand how they can collaborate to realise their data-driven innovations: from digital twins to rural service delivery and the agentic state.

GovMesh 4.0 by GovInsider and interweave.gov

Sponsor

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.