City leaders from Europe and the United States launched a joint GovTech Manifesto in Madrid on May 7, 2026, pledging to transform how local governments procure and deploy technology as part of a coordinated push to make digital transformation work for citizens rather than for technology markets.
The declaration came out of the first Mayors’ Leadership Forum, held during the GovTech 4 Impact (G4I) World Congress 2026, a three-day gathering that convened government officials, innovators, and public sector leaders across May 5 to 7. The Manifesto was developed in partnership with the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC), and the European Commission, making it one of the broadest formal coalitions yet to address government technology from the city level up.
The core argument of the Manifesto is that city and regional governments have spent too long operating as fragmented buyers of technology, commissioning individual pilots that rarely scale. The new approach positions cities and regions as active market shapers — using coordinated public purchasing power, shared open standards, and aligned procurement frameworks to shift the dynamics of the GovTech industry in favour of the public interest. The coalition believes this collective posture can drive economic growth, accelerate climate-positive outcomes, and deliver services that genuinely respond to citizens’ needs.
“The outcomes will deliver a better quality of life for our citizens,” said Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, one of the Manifesto’s signatories.
The Forum was chaired by Rian van Dam, Mayor of Hollands Kroon in the Netherlands, who emphasised that the pressure cities face is not simply technological but deeply human. Mayors, he argued, must anchor their communities through periods of rapid change by placing people, nature, and democratic values at the centre of every decision. He framed the Manifesto not as a policy document but as a commitment to act on that responsibility.
The group that gathered in Madrid brought together mayors and city officials from Poznań in Poland, Slatina in Romania, Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Granada and Las Rozas de Madrid in Spain, Kranj in Slovenia, Düsseldorf in Germany, Bristol in the United Kingdom, and Mount Vernon in New York. Their geographic spread signals an intent to build a model that works across jurisdictions with different governance systems, resource bases, and technological starting points.
The inclusion of American mayors added a transatlantic dimension that organisers say is central to the initiative’s global ambitions. George Burciaga, Managing Partner of The U.S. Roundtable, described the forum as evidence that city leaders are moving beyond dialogue toward shared execution and that the communities who need transformation most are increasingly being represented at the global table.
The Manifesto is paired with a structured action plan that will be put into motion over the coming year. Cities and institutions that did not attend the Madrid forum are invited to join as co-shapers of the emerging GovTech ecosystem. The first formal progress report is scheduled for the next edition of the forum, creating a public accountability mechanism designed to keep momentum from stalling after the launch.
The initiative draws on existing instruments including European Digital Innovation Hubs and regulatory sandboxes that already provide frameworks for experimentation and scale. The emphasis on shared infrastructure rather than new pilots reflects a broader frustration among city leaders with transformation efforts that produce results in one neighbourhood or department but fail to move across an entire system.
Whether the Manifesto generates lasting structural change will depend on how consistently participating governments align their procurement decisions with its commitments. The precedent of coordinated city-level action on a global governance challenge, however, is itself a significant departure from how digital transformation has typically been handled at the local level.
