Survey ranks Hawaiʻi best state for emerging technologies

The Center for Digital Government ranked Hawaiʻi the highest out of all fifty states in emerging technologies/innovation in their Digital States Survey. 

The center started this biennial e-survey 21 years ago as an effort to benchmark each state governmentʻs use of digital technologies to improve service delivery, increase capacity, and reach policy goals. Hawaiʻi also ranked second in the survey for its collaborative work between different state offices and leaders.

“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in technology and innovation,” Gov. David Ige said.  “Modernizing government has been my one of my top priorities since becoming governor.”

Hawaiʻi also received an overall grade of B+ in the survey, up from B in 2016. Under the Digital States criteria, a grade of B reflects states that perform well in many survey categories. B grades are also given to states with leaders who work to develop more sustainable operations.

The center said they believe that letter grades are an effective way to reflect a stateʻs work in digital technology. The center also said letter grades provide a way of assessing an individual stateʻs progress over time.

“Although there is still much work to be done, I am pleased with this achievement and look forward to improving our overall grade,” said Todd Nacapuy, chief information officer for the Office of Enterprise Technology Services. “I congratulate all our team members for their hard work in helping us earn this recognition.”

The center said the survey was designed to highlight the best and emerging practices to share them among the states. The survey recognizes these achievements and provides public service recommendations for all 50 states.

A national overview of all 50 states and their letter grades is available on the centerʻs website. An awards article and a summary for each state can be found online.