Demo Lab
The Demo Lab is an interactive showcase at Code for America Summit, designed to bring together tech innovators, government problem-solvers, and creative thinkers. This is your chance to explore and share solutions that address real-world challenges, gain valuable feedback, and be part of a one-of-a-kind Summit experience.
Submissions will be open November 12–23, 2026.
We want to hear from you
Our Demo Lab gives Summit attendees like you an interactive opportunity to showcase your work for your peers. Participants will have a dedicated space to demo a project in an informal, approachable setting.
We’d love to see your ideas if you fit one of these categories:
- Tech and government professionals presenting innovative tools or approaches
- Teams or individuals with projects at any stage—from initial ideas to polished solutions
- Civic tech problem-solvers seeking collaboration, feedback, or inspiration
We like to think of Summit as the nerd table in high school, all grown up. And who sitting at that table (we know you were there with us) didn’t love a science fair? The Demo Lab is more than just an exhibit session—it’s a platform to build community around shared challenges and inspire new solutions. It will foster collaboration by connecting like-minded individuals, and bring a hands-on element to Summit to amplify our collective impact.
Join us in the Demo Lab and showcase your work in a vibrant, interactive setting. Together, let’s inspire new ideas and find solutions that make a real difference!
Submission criteria
- Relevance to theme and tracks: Ensure your demo aligns with the Summit theme and one of the designated conference tracks.
- One-minute screen recording: Provide a concise screen recording that showcases your demo in action. This should highlight key features and functionality.
- 100-word description: Submit a clear and engaging written summary (100 words or less) that explains your demo’s purpose, intended audience, and impact.
- Presenter limit: To facilitate smooth participation during the event, each demo can have no more than two presenters.
What does a winning proposal look like?
Back for its third year, the Demo Lab at Summit is a place for governments and organizations to showcase projects at any stage, from initial ideas to polished solutions. With a science fair style set up, the ideal proposal for this venue is one where presenters demo a tool or resource they’ve been working on and ask the audience for specific feedback to improve upon it in the next iteration.
We want to know the methods you used to build your product, what your initial pilot looks like, and how you can inspire people who are working in the same area. This is not a space to promote or demo products that are for sale to government or government-adjacent organizations.
Here are two examples of winning pitches from last year’s Summit:
- U.S. Digital Corps demoed their use of the Model Context Protocol to improve LLM access to federal data. They showed the process by which they developed two federal datasets to make them AI-accessible, and shared their findings around AI system accuracy in retrieval and interpretation of federal data.
- Pennsylvania’s digital services team, CODE PA, demoed two projects that were part of an effort to reduce SNAP payment error rates in the state. They detailed the process they went through to build a platform that lets residents check their benefit status, and showed the in-progress pilot they were creating using Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) to pre‑screen income documents before human review.
Conference tracks
Service Design + Delivery
This track focuses on the end-to-end design and delivery of government services, which are at the core of what matters most—where people experience government. Delivery of services, technical or non-technical, was once viewed as an afterthought to policy decisions. Today, we know that a ready, responsive, and resilient government must get implementation right.
Policy + Administration
In many ways, policy and technology are two sides of the same government coin. Policy is how the government creates the guardrails for our society, and technological implementation is how those policies are brought to life. But there’s often a disconnect between the intention of a policy and its impact when implemented. This track focuses on bringing policy and administrative decisions closer to their desired real-world outcomes.
Emerging Technology + Innovation
It’s critical we leverage the latest advancements to build more effective and efficient public services. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence have the power to transform government services, but we must ensure that they are deployed thoughtfully and ethically. This track showcases the latest technologies and forward-thinking strategies that are driving positive change and reshaping the future of civic technology.
People Power + Community
Code for America was founded over 15 years ago on the belief that government can work for the people, by the people, in the digital age. This track is for anyone who believes that our best creative problem solving comes from bringing people together. It spotlights change agents and innovators who influence government to better serve all people.