Consolidation Day A number of participants gave a running start to this day with the 1st ICA Conference digiFunRun and Walk! And what a better place to introduce it, than Helsinki! Running or even Walking is the most accessible form of physical activity with many physical and mental health benefits... and believe us... it came in handy! It was also a great way of getting to know our neighbouring Hesperia Park while making new ICA friends. Be sure to up your pace as we look forward to an engaging 2nd for this event in Bucharest! The Consolidation Day’s official programme started off with groups formed according to topic of stakeholders’ interest during the collaboration coffee session, chaired by Mr. Cheng-Ming Wang. Developing an effective digital government to enhance pleasant user experience with trust and satisfaction is one of the major tasks for many countries. Citizens expect more precise personalized services and a smarter service acquisition environment. Using personal data wisely and safely while providing on-line services would meet these requirements. During these group discussions, participants examined the important topics of using personal data. The aim was to exchange experience and knowledge, so that we can generate concrete ideas for governments to provide the data-driven personalized services for citizens' needs, even before they ask for it! Dr. Naiyi Hsiao, Deputy Director, Taiwan E-Governance Center (TEG) led discussions for the Use and sharing of data and MyData to promote Proactive Government. The group explored and addressed the challenges based on a “BRIC*S” issue model (Benefits, Risks, Investment, Facilitating Conditions for various Stakeholders) and what improvements/innovation could be implemented for MyData taking BRIC*S into account. Ms. Soon Cheng Goh, Cluster Director of the Finance Cluster, Trade & Industry Cluster at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore, led the group addressing the topic Ask once: International Cooperation. Among other, this group exchanged views on how to: accurately capture data vs single source of truth in order to establish data ownership; ensure transparency and gain of trust; establish standards for G2G, G2B and international sharing; and implement policy in order to encourage safe and responsible data sharing without compromising data privacy - at WOG level, with private sectors, locally and internationally. Ms. Johanna Kotipelto, Senior Specialist with the Policy Analysis Unit at the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland led discussion on data driven innovation in the public sector. The group concluded that we need: public value cases rather than public management; citizen empowerment as inclusion leads to trust; transparency; Open APIs and dashboards to gather a more holistic “big picture”; and data commons. Cybersecurity was the topic moderated by Mr. Hong-Wei (Howard) Jyan, General Director at the Executive Yuan/Department of Cyber Security with the Government of Taiwan. This group recommends that: governance needs to be further engaged on cybersecurity; the public needs to be aware as well as trained; cooperation needs to be established and enabled on IoT security standards; and last but not least the exchange of information among CIOs through direct communication or networks such as ICA. What do you get when you join the OECD, WB and EU in a panel? A well rounded International Corner, chaired by Mr. Frank Leyman, that focused on how each organization tackles new technologies and AI in particular but also what actions are taken towards their Member countries in this regard. Representing OECD, Ms. Barbara Ubaldi, Senior project manager, Digital Government and Open Data within the Division for Public Sector Reform of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate, told us that as emerging technologies and wealth of data are rapidly transforming economies and societies’ need and behaviours, there are new as well as old challenges for governments. Governments need to consider government data as a core element for Artificial Intelligence. Openness and collaboration are key elements for increased public trust. OECD supports governments in the use of AI through the development of digital government indicators; digital transformation report; mapping of practices and a draft of guidelines on the use of emerging technologies in the public sector among other. Furthermore, by promoting peer learning through the sharing of experiences as in this year’s E-Leaders meeting on Digital Transformation: exploring how emerging technologies meet the needs of a user-driven public sector which will take place in Seoul. WB’s Oleg Petrov, Senior Program Officer, Digital Development Global Practice shared that WB collects good practices and helps connect the dots to promote Digital Development all over the world. While the connectivity gap is closing, divides still remain. Mr. Petrov told us that through the Digital CASA (Central Asia-South Asia) regional programme WB aims to assist emerging economies through this digital transformation. He added that the World Bank Blockchain & AI Labs are designed to explore, test, understand and create internal know-how about new technology capabilities that will enable the WBG to be future ready and competitive in the digital age. Presenting for the European Commission's Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT), Mr. Emanuele Baldacci, Director of Digital Services, told us that this organization approaches their Digital Strategy through a solid Data Strategy. This is accomplished by adopting a holistic approach to unlock the potential of data and by applying new technologies such as analytics and AI (Data Ecosystem approach) but also through different initiatives such as expert groups (Data4Policy); Data, Information and Knowledge Communication; and Data Services. All this is enabled by focusing on the needs and how they aim to use AI within their organization. Furthermore, Mr. Baldacci shared that the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Programme, aims at Helping European public administrations explore new ways of leveraging the potential of data assets by promoting collaboration and sharing of knowledge and tools to extract insights from data that will create new information and services. To round off the day, Mr. Aleksi Kopponen, Special Advisor at the Finnish Ministry of Finance showed us that new technologies really matter when it comes to planning services. Often there is a lot of talk and even more promises; but in this video you can take a sneak peek at some very promising cases and pilots displaying solutions enabled through this new technology not only both the Finnish government but the Finnish society as well. The hosting country showcased a number of initiatives that are in the planning as well as in the works marking a theme that speed is essential! Take a look at the presentation: Video Source The conference came to a close with an unforgettable for all event hosted at the Government Banquet Hall. The Minister of Transport and Communications, Ms. Anne Berner welcomed the ICA international delegation with a very impressive from a policy and technological perspective opening speech. Minister Berner emphasized that through digitalization and AI governments are able to create services at lower cost for society. The beautifully organized evening reception was highlighted by the handover of the gavel from ICA Chair, Mr. Toshiyuki Zamma and Past Chair, Mr. Shimon Broner to the new ICA Chair, Mr. Juhani Korhonen. A pleasant surprise was the well kept secret for his musical talent by one of ICA’s own, Mr. Andrew Wang, national representative of Taiwan! A great thank you to Mr. Juhani Korhonen for chairing this day!
