Long Beach is solidifying its reputation as one of the nation’s most forward-thinking digital cities, with details about its progressive efforts highlighted in the Department of Technology and Innovation’s latest annual report.

Detailing a year of milestone achievements and progressive initiatives, the 2024 report offers a comprehensive look at how the City is harnessing technology not just for efficiency and privacy protection but also to empower residents.

Among the standout accomplishments were:

• The publication of Generative AI Guidance, designed to help City staff safely and ethically incorporate artificial intelligence into their workflows. Alongside the guidance, specialized training and a use case registry were offered to employees to offer practical applications for AI in tasks such as writing and analysis.

• Long Beach’s resident-driven tech initiative, the LB Collaboratory, or LB Co-Lab, entered its second cohort. This immersive program empowers locals to imagine and create technological solutions tailored to their neighborhoods. Building on the success of its inaugural year—which saw more than $200,000 invested into four community projects—LB Co-Lab continues to position itself as a national blueprint for equitable technology deployment.

• The City’s community-first philosophy extends to Long Beach’s ongoing Civic User Research practice. In 2024, six different research projects asked residents to assess the usability and effectiveness of City-run digital services, in partnership with volunteers from the U.S. Digital Response. This included collecting feedback about emerging services such as the City’s AI chatbot pilot, Ask Elby.

• Digital privacy was the central focus of the launch of an enhanced Digital Rights Platform. This online resource demystifies how smart technologies—including cameras, sensors and smart streetlights—are used in Long Beach, offering transparency on data collection practices and a public feedback channel. The initiative was bolstered by a series of 12 community workshops, helping residents understand digital rights and how to safeguard personal data.

These achievements are set against a backdrop of national recognitions—in particular for Long Beach’s Smart City Initiative, a program that advances solutions to civic challenges by engaging the community. For that effort, the City was named a finalist in the 2025 IDC Smart Cities North America Awards.

Long Beach also earned recognition in 2024 as the number one Top Digital City in its population category by the Center for Digital Government, making Long Beach the first City to receive the first place prize for four consecutive years.

And, Long Beach received SoCal CIO Large Enterprise honors, which recognize technology leadership in organizations with more than $1.5 billion in annual revenue.

As technology and artificial intelligence become more interwoven into daily life, Long Beach officials say the City’s deliberate, community-informed approach positions it to embrace the future. With a clear emphasis on responsible tech use, privacy protection and neighborhood-driven projects, the City is writing a new playbook for what a digitally empowered community can look like.

The full 2024 annual report and more details about the Smart City Initiative are available online.