Country Reports 2021 Country Reports: November 30th, 12:30CET - 15:00 CET A traditional segment of the ICA annual conference is the sharing of our Member States’ Country Reports. The date set for Member States to present their country’s report is Tuesday the 30th of November at 12:30 CET. A full report of the Conference findings will be shared along with the Country Report Summary following both events. As is usual with the Country Report, we would ask that you provide an update on work done in your country over the past year. However, the following topics which were identified as important for further research and study to be conducted also through ICA’s Emerging Leaders Programme (ELP) are suggested areas of discussion for your report. Of course, any and all updates on key activities inside your nation would be well received in your Country Report. You can download a thematic PPT template at this link Realtime Economy in public sector Real-time economy (RTE) is an environment where all the transactions between business entities are in digital format, increasingly automatically generated, and completed in real-time without store and forward processing, both from business and IT-processing perspectives. In Public Sector, the main benefit of RTE is associated with the elimination of "unproductive work" performed by businesses, citizens and the state, which can be done through real-time exchange of high-quality data. E.g.: imagine the full digital cycle from public consultation ➔ eProcurement ➔ eInvoicing ➔ accounting (also in a cross-border context). The purpose of this topic is to discuss the challenges, burdens and needs to implement a RTE status in public sector. Is your country applying (or planning to apply) the RTE principles? Is eInvoicing mandatory in G2G? G2B? G2C? Is eProcurement mandatory? Sustainable technologies in public sector: Climate change forces not only citizens and enterprises to adapt, but also compel the public sector to take actions in lowering its ecological footprint. As Government CIO’s we need to review the energy consumption of our data centers, chose other “greener” sources of energy, revisit the isolation of our computer rooms and buildings in general, maybe reduce our travels, etc. The European Commission has launched its “Green Deal”; a major programme to make Europe more ecological friendly. Therefore, countries are invited to take action. Every year EU countries will have to report on their progress in this matter. The purpose of this topic is to discuss and exchange good practices in the public sector context. Which aspects of sustainability are integrated in the Public Sector strategy? Which sustainable technologies are you using today? Do you measure the ecological impact of ICT in public sector? Do you have specific targets to achieve on reducing the ecological footprint of public sector? Govtech in emerging countries: GovTech is about applying emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence, advanced sensing, blockchain, advanced data processing, etc.) in order to improve the delivery of public services through increasing efficiency and lowering costs. One may consider that this is easier to implement in advanced countries. But is this really so? Emerging countries could maybe leapfrog and be more efficient than the western world. So, who inspires whom in this matter? The purpose of this topic is to discuss and exchange good practice in public sector context. Which emerging technologies have you implemented/are you piloting today in public sector? In which sector(s) do you see the highest (potential) benefits of implementing emerging technologies? Digital Identity In the last 15 years, most countries have implemented a strong tool to allow citizens to authenticate themselves online. Most of them issued a smartcard and/or mobile based solution. Since a few years, and thanks to emerging technologies like blockchain, we see several community-based solutions hit the market. These Self-Sovereign Identity solutions focus on a totally different business model and governance structure. The purpose of this topic is to exchange views on both models, evaluate potential risks, legal aspects, etc. Data as a Strategic Resource Data is the raw material for innovation. This is particularly true for three major areas that are of paramount importance in today’s digitalized world: artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and big data. As such data is an essential resource for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, job creation and societal progress in general to the extent that data has been termed the oil of the 21st century. The European strategy for data aims at creating a single market for data that will ensure Europe’s global competitiveness and data sovereignty. Common European data spaces will ensure that more data becomes available for use in the economy and society, while keeping the companies and individuals who generate the data in control. A central concept of the European data strategy is data sovereignty which generally refers to government efforts to prevent their citizens’ data from falling into the wrong hands via measures that restrict how businesses can transfer personal information beyond their country’s borders. Think General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. Data sovereignty enables you to self-determine how, when and at what price others may use it across the value chain. But in practice it takes more than regulation, it takes an architecture with a common soft infrastructure and frameworks for trust. Several initiatives are currently specifying such architectures. The one that underlies the European data strategy is International data spaces association, IDSA (https://internationaldataspaces.org), driven by Fraunhofer institute in Germany with backing from their industry, among others the car industry. The Dutch imitative iSHARE (https://www.ishareworks.org) focus on data value chains of global trade. The Finnish IHAN testbed for trusted data sharing in the data economy is yet another initiative. The purpose of this topic is to discuss and exchange good practice in public sector context. To what extent are data-strategies discussed in your country? To what extent is the concept of data sovereignty discussed in your country? How do you organise data governance in your country? Do you have concrete initiatives on data sovereignty in test-phase or up and running? 55th ICA Conference Programme | Country Reports 2021 | Previous Conferences
