State and city governments implement the work of the largest federal programs, covering issues like housing, education, transportation, and law enforcement. Government Executive reveals how improving government at all levels is leveraged by cities making the most of their data, an upward trend accelerated by Bloomberg Philanthropies $42 million What Works Cities initiative.

Brookings’ TechTank analyzes three key points of a recent exclusive interview with President Obama that examines the challenges and successes of his administration’s effort to improve digital services across the federal government by growing government IT capacity with various initiatives including Federal Agency Digital Service Teams, 18F, and the Presidential Innovation Fellows.

Summarizing a recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute, the New York Times reports that we’ve barely tapped the economic opportunity to be created by the Internet of Things, predicted to yield $4 trillion to $11 trillion in global economic gains by 2025. Public sector leaders can apply their advice for companies: businesses that adapt to the new technology by organizing properly and exploiting its rich information will gain the most.

A bipartisan group of senators that has been urging lawmakers to watch the Internet of Things is pushing the Government Accountability Office to study it, Nextgov reports. Among other questions, the senators want to know how the government can benefit from greater connectivity and its associated challenges.

Amid the grand aspirations for the Internet of Things, there is healthy doubt about its potential. Writing for the The Atlantic, Ian Bogost puts IoT development in context.

Google’s new city technology focused startup, Sidewalk Labs, announced its first big bet. According to Wired, the company will merge two companies behind New York City’s LinkNYC Initiative into one venture called Intersection that aims to bring free public Wi-Fi to cities around the world using different pieces of urban infrastructure, from pay phones to bus stops.

Combinations of big and small tech companies are accelerating cloud computing development by building ways for companies to create and maintain software applications in the cloud, which means that software for mobile and cloud computing will can move more easily across networks. Also on the horizon are faster more flexible ways to create cloud computing systems, the New York Times reports.

The National Science Foundation is laying the groundwork to test future cloud tech that may bring new varieties of cloud technologies to government. GSN reports the NSF has made its “future cloud” prototypes available for researchers to experiment with new cloud architectures and applications that go beyond current commercial offerings.

A variety of government innovation and technology challenges will highlight new modes of government across the nation, like the recent 14th annual Best of Texas 2015 Awards that, as GovTech reports, show how data is powering analytics for education, discovery dashboards for the courts, and returning property to constituents.

Applications are open for the inaugural round of Code for America’s Technology Awards that will highlight the best examples of 21st century government technology that significantly improve citizen services. And Amazon Web Services announced its second City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge to award eight grand prizes to creative cities across the globe for excellence in three categories: best practices, partners in innovation, and dreaming big--a new category that recognizes the best ideas for innovating in cloud space, StateScoop reports.

New from our team:

Writing for a Data-Smart series that explores data-related facets of civic engagement in today’s cities, Emily Shaw, Deputy Policy Director at the Sunlight foundation, explains how open data fuels the kind of two-way communication that increases opportunities for the public to interact with government, while allowing for local governments to maximize the value of their data.