We have the government to thank for the internet, GPS and unmanned aerial systems. Much of the machine learning and advanced analytics powering the data-driven economy are made possible by government-funded research. And agencies themselves are being transformed by new technologies and innovative ways of weaving IT into critical missions.

Public-sector tech, in other words, is far cooler than the government often gets credit for. These awards aim to give these innovators the credit they deserve. 

The Public Sector Innovation category focuses on transformative tech that is truly reinventing government -- at the federal, state and local levels. That potentially mission-critical impact can stem from a new technology itself or from the innovative ways established tech is being leveraged to make government function better.

Congratulations to all of this year's winners:

• 
  Internal Revenue Service
• 
  U.S. Air Force
• 
  U.S. Army
• 
  Department of Education
• 
  Oregon Department of Human Services
• 
  Los Alamos National Laboratory
• 
  City of Los Angeles
• 
  U.S. Army
• 
  Department of Labor
• 
  Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
• 
  Social Security Administration
• 
  U.S. Army
• 
  Department of Health and Human Services
• 
  Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• 
  Town of Cary, North Carolina
• 
  General Services Administration
• 
  Kentucky Division of Technology Services
• 
  General Services Administration
• 
  NASA
• 
  Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services
• 
  California Office of Emergency Services