Digital Government, Finance, Accountability, and Sustainable Economic Development

Background

Framed under the 5th International Conference on Financial Technology and Business Analysis (ICFTBA 2026), this symposium examines the role of digital government in modern public administration and economic development. Digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped how governments design policies, deliver public services, and interact with citizens. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, digital government has evolved from a temporary response to a strategic pillar for improving public sector efficiency, transparency, and accountability while supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 16 on effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. At the same time, the expansion of artificial intelligence, open data, e-government platforms, and digital participation raises important questions regarding governance capacity, institutional readiness, digital inclusion, cybersecurity, and ethical decision-making. While digital technologies offer significant opportunities to strengthen public value, their success depends on appropriate institutional frameworks, leadership, citizen engagement, and mechanisms that ensure transparency and democratic accountability.

Goal/Rationale

The objective of this symposium is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for discussing how digital government can contribute to more transparent, accountable, resilient, and sustainable public administration. Although governments increasingly rely on digital technologies to improve service delivery and policy implementation, evidence shows that digitalization alone does not guarantee better governance outcomes. Institutional capacity, regulatory quality, citizen participation, and digital inclusion remain essential conditions for generating public value.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence, generative AI, open government data, smart government initiatives, and digital public services have created new opportunities to improve decision-making, fiscal transparency, environmental governance, and progress towards the SDGs. However, these innovations also introduce challenges related to algorithmic accountability, privacy, cybersecurity, digital divides, governance fragmentation, and the transparency-accountability paradox. This symposium seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners to explore innovative approaches, empirical evidence, comparative experiences, and policy solutions that can strengthen digital governance while balancing efficiency, equity, participation, and democratic values.

Scope and Information for Participants

The symposium welcomes theoretical, empirical, comparative, and policy-oriented contributions addressing the opportunities and challenges of digital government and public sector innovation. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Digital government and public sector transformation.
• Transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption through digital technologies.
• Artificial intelligence and generative AI in public administration.
• Open government data and evidence-based policymaking.
• Citizen participation, e-democracy, and digital engagement.
• Digital inclusion, accessibility, and the digital divide.
• Smart cities, urban resilience, and sustainable governance.
• Digital public financial management and fiscal transparency.
• Governance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Ethical, legal, and institutional challenges of digital transformation.
• Comparative international experiences and best practices in digital governance.

Researchers from public administration, political science, economics, information systems, law, sustainability, business, and related disciplines are encouraged to submit original research, case studies, and innovative methodological approaches.

Publication

Accepted papers will be published in Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences (AEMPS)  (Print ISSN: 2754-1169) and will be submitted to Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI), Crossref, CNKI, Portico, Google Scholar  and other databases for indexing. The situation may be affected by factors among databases like processing time, workflow, policy, etc.

* The papers will be exported to production and publication on a regular basis. Early-registered papers are expected to be published online earlier.

This symposium is organized by ICFTBA 2026 and it will independently proceed the submission and publication process.