The town wins the 2025 Public Sector Innovation Award

Excellent in public innovation

The Municipality of Hafnarfjörður yesterday received the 2025 Public Sector Innovation Award. The municipality was recognised for outstanding achievement in public sector innovation through its pioneering work on digitising the services and operations of the local authority.

Mayor Valdimar Víðisson accepted the award, accompanied by Ingvar Högni Ragnarsson, project manager for digital projects, and Garðar Rafn Eyjólfsson, a systems analyst who manages the city's website.

„We are extremely grateful for this recognition. We are on exactly the path we want to be on, which is to provide the best possible, seamless service to residents. This is only possible with staff who are passionate about devising and implementing solutions that simplify and improve services for the residents of Hafnarfjörður,“ says Valdimar Víðisson on the achievement.

Excellent results in innovation

The Ministry of Finance awarded the prizes, and their aim is to recognise outstanding achievements in public sector innovation over the past 12 months. The judging panel was composed of representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Treasury, and last year's award winners. Ingvar Högni says the team is proud to receive this recognition. „It encourages us to continue doing good work for the residents. You don't achieve success on a journey like this unless everyone takes part. That's why it's worth thanking the staff of Hafnarfjörður for how well things have gone. We're not stopping anywhere,“ he says.

Garðar Rafn agrees. „There's so much we've done over the past year. We set up Auði, the first AI-based chatbot for a municipality. Then we revamped all the websites of the town's institutions, and our Evolve automation robot is a digital employee that has greatly simplified our work in serving the town's residents.“

Five awards presented

More people were recognised yesterday afternoon, with a total of 36 nominees.

• The Parking Fund received an award for outstanding achievement in public innovation for its transformation of the enforcement of parking offences.
• The Justice Portal received an award for outstanding achievement in public innovation in the digitisation of the justice system for all stakeholders across the institutions of the Ministry of Justice.
• The tax authority received recognition for outstanding achievement in public innovation through the use of data and technological innovations to enhance its services to the public.
• Benedikt Geir Jóhannesson received an award for outstanding achievement in public innovation with a strong individual initiative in the application of artificial intelligence to improvement projects.

Ingþór Karl Eiríksson, Director of the Treasury and chairman of the judging panel, presented the awards.

Hafnarfjörður is proud of its staff and their excellent work, and is very pleased that this good work is recognised. Thank you.