Moving to digital government

If code is law, then government is a computer. As a result, there are few industries more likely to be fundamentally disrupted by the digital revolution than government. In this all-day workshop, FWD50 founder and Harvard Lecturer Alistair Croll and New Zealand’s Government Service Integration Lead Pia Waugh lead a packed lineup of experts considering every facet of digital transformation.

In addition to Alistair and Pia, presenters include:

• Ramy Nassar, Quarry
• Siim Sikkut, Government CIO of Estonia
• Meghan Hellstern and Gabe Sawhney, Code for Canada
• Kent Aitken, Public Policy Forum
• James Stewart, independent technology consultant and former Deputy CTO, UK Government

We’ll tackle existing biases and preconceived notions: What norms do people carry subconsciously? What antiquated or unnecessary prejudices people bring to new technology? How does digital government embrace being a resilient node in the network? How does it find new ways to work with people? And above all, in what new ways does it need to work with people in order to succeed?

Over the course of the day, we’ll cover a wide range of topics:

• Design thinking, analytics, and data-driven innovation
• Accessibility, security, digital identity
• The cultural and procedural changes needed for government to survive, adapt, and thrive
• The nature of civic innovation
• Co-operation between municipal, provincial, and federal governments, and between public and private sectors.

Participants will get a sense of what digital government is, where it’s headed, and what the pitfalls and opportunities are. We’ll learn what works in digital leaders such as New Zealand and Estonia, and tackle critical topics such as digital inclusion, design thinking, and analytics. This workshop is designed to prepare public sector workers for the coming move to digital government.