As much as local governments should embody the innovative spirit of a Startup, taking this approach is challenging without hiring such a firm or agency to–at the very least–point them in the right direction.

The following are a few examples of GovTech Startup businesses who’ve made waves in the industry:

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Appalicious

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In Appalicious, Yo Yoshida developed a mobile technology meant for disaster response. The beta version of the Disaster Assessment and Assistance Dashboard found its home in San Francisco. Now, after a FEMA endorsement, the revolutionary technology is rolling out in cities nationwide. Here are some features:

•There are real-time emergency resource and danger mapping systems

•Citizens can request assistance

•First responders can update first-aid locations

•Local businesses can advertise recovery services

Capriza

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The perception of the design on most government websites was never particularly flattering.Though, Capriza navigates those turbulent website waters and turns it into a user-friendly mobile app.

Co-Founders, Oren Ariel, Ronnen Armon, Amnon Landa, and Yuval Scarlat have cut out the coding, API creation, and upgrading, and replaced it with simple drag-and-drop technology.

With its new app, Capriza pairs users to a mobile window with the agency’s old site and allows for the placing of features with one easy click.

Mobile-based resources in governments aren’t always robust, so this offers an affordable and efficient alternative to a full-throttle mobile redesign.

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OpenGov

OpenGov simplifies complex government finances—placing them into easily decipherable charts. The Startup innovated a cloud-based platform offering historical budget analysis to both government officials and citizens alike.

While the tech seems straight-forward, there’s much more to it than meets the eye. The interface segments financial breakdowns on a per-department basis. All it takes is one click for users to delve deeper into revenues and expenditures.

Since Zac Bookman, Nate Levine, Joe Lonsdale, and Mike Rosengarten founded OpenGov in2012, it’s received $22 million from investors, and obtained over 275 governments throughout 37 separate states as public sector customers.

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TransitMix

TransitMix is a mapping tool allowing planners to predict costs and ridership in real-time.

The idea behind the innovation stems from the need for a better way for city transportation planners to draw bus routes than with highlighters and printed maps. What’s more, is Transitmix blends all data acquired during route-planning into one tool.

Up until Transitmix’s poignant industry disruption, local government decision-makers and citizens were stuck decrypting rows of coordinates in Excel files or deciphering complex Google Earth coordinates.

Lastly, Tiffany Chu, Daniel Getelman, Sam Hashemi and Danny Whalen’s platform crunches an abundance of information (e.g., US census data, internal data) so that it customizes routes to the appropriate demographics.

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