Getting chat right: Estonia's grand plan for citizen interaction

Estonia has pioneered many digital government fundamentals. Now, in an ambitious project to unify government interactions, the country is launching a chatbot—a single agent that can interact conversationally with citizens. Getting this to work across disconnected departments, and presenting a consistent, accessible interface to users, is a huge challenge. In 2019, Estonia’s CTO, Kristo Vaher, shared his plans with the FWD50 audience. This year, he returns with an update in a conversation with Kathy Pham. Kathy’s background in computer science, civic tech, and inclusive design brings the ideal perspective to consider Estonia’s project; in this session, Kathy and Kristo will discuss public sector product management, chatbots, and corralling the departments and suppliers needed to make this vision a reality.