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AGENDA
The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
AGENDA The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
Venue: Centro Cultural de Belém
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
E-Leaders 2017 Meeting of the OECD Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials
Lisbon, 21-22 September
Agenda
“The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector: Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies”
The meeting will take place at the Cultural Centre of Belém (CCB)
Unprecedented advances in the form of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things,
automation and biotechnology, to name a few, are radically transforming how we live, work,
consume services and interact with each other, in societies that are more than ever connected
and networked. The borders between the digital, physical and biological worlds are
increasingly blurred and data emerges as a critical strategic asset. But blending these worlds
does not come without its challenges like security, commissioning of goods and services, and
compliance with newly adopted standards.
In face of such rapid and disruptive technological progress, governments seem to remain to a
large extent hardwired and unable to adjust quickly enough. Today more than ever
societies’ require their governments to be agile, adaptable and capable to decide rapidly
between alternative options, which form a promising yet unexplored panorama. Beyond the
hype, what are the implications of these trends for leaders asked to make bold, quick and
strategic decisions in a public sector environment that is still too often slow, risk-adverse and
vertical?
Building on the conclusions of the meetings of Tokyo (2015) and Tallinn (2016), the E-Leaders
2017 in Lisbon will discuss how to prepare the public sector for a new digital era. This year’s
discussion will help understand the range and scope, the challenges and opportunities, the
boundaries and the impact of the digital transformation of the public sector.
The 2017 E-Leaders will bring together Government CIOs, senior digital government decision-
makers, private sector, civil society and academia from OECD and partner countries to reflect
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
on how to make decisions on the adoption of digital opportunities to create smarter, more
innovative and responsive governments. The issue at stake is how to move the public sector
away from top-down assumptions about citizens’ needs (user-centred), and allow citizens to
determine the ecosystem and supply of public services, business processes and models that
underpin them, as well as develop the public sector infrastructure that supports these
transformations.
To start answering to the questions raised above, delegates will be invited to examine
emerging needs in terms of digital skills, interfaces and collaborations with a broad range of
actors in different governance frameworks. The E-Leaders will discuss different options for
commissioning IT goods and services in an age of disruption, as well as the underlying critical
infrastructure - such as data - to foster the institutional openness and capacity to share,
integrate and collaborate to deliver the user-driven administrations that respond to the needs
of networked societies.
Day 1 (full day) – 21 September 2017
Day 1 will be open to delegates from the OECD Working Party of Senior Digital Government
Officials and from partner countries, as well as to international organisations and selected
participants from the private sector, the academia and the civil society.
8.30 Registration
9.00 Opening remarks
Ms. Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, Minister of the Presidency and of Administrative
Modernisation, Portugal
Ms. Mari Kiviniemi, Deputy Secretary General, OECD
Mr. Colin MacDonald, Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs and Chief
Information Officer of the Government of New Zealand, Chair of the Working Party of
Senior Digital Government Officials
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
9.45-11:15 Session 1 – From vertical production to system thinking approaches: How to
shape a governance that enables strategic leadership and cross-sectorial collaborations to
deliver value to a networked world?
Emerging digital technologies have the potential to radically change the way government
operates, but defining and implementing a digital government strategy that supports their
uptake is no easy task. It requires a governance framework that moves away from vertical
decision making models and secures investments, personnel, security and resources based on
a system-based approach to actually deliver on the potential. So how can governments move
past these obstacles? As countries experiment on the new forms of organisational set up and
policy instruments to adapt to changing needs brought about by the Digital Transformation in
this session they will discuss the challenges associated with it, and how to overcome them.
Key questions:
From agency-thinking to system-thinking: how can the digital government imperative
and digital by design principle make whole-of-government approaches a reality?
What type of governance models can enable the coordination, coherence and
strategic alignment needed for effective and strategic decision-making in a context of
digital transformation?
What’s the role of leadership in developing new business models that cut across silos
and how to make such models sustainable?
How can we balance the need to take decisions on the deployment and use of
common enablers while leaving space for sector and/or agency-specific digital
innovation?
11.15 – 11:45 Coffee Break
11.45-13:15 Session 2 – From user-centred to user-driven approaches: Is the public sector
ready to let the citizens drive decisions on public policies and services?
Social Media, Open Data, the use of algorithms and the IoT are all providing opportunities to
let the users’ preferences drive the content of policies and services. Yet, many governments
struggle to understand what such an approach means and what its implications, risks and
potentials are for the public sector. This session will provide the opportunity to share doubts,
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
ideas and experiences on how to shift to more user-driven public sectors capable to listen to
the services’ users rather than to interpret their needs, and to crowdsource their inputs to
define and shape solutions that better address their preferences.
key questions:
What does it mean to be a user-driven administration and what does it look like?
What are good practices and initiatives that put stakeholders in the driver’s seat and
how do they impact public sector performance and broader policy outcomes?
How to open up the decision-making process while avoiding capture by vested
interests?
13.15 – 14:15 Lunch
14.15- 16:30 Session 3. Breakout sessions
3.1 What digital skills for a 21st century civil service?
The digital transformation of economies and societies demands the identification and
management of skills that can support the development of a digital and innovative public
sector, able to respond to new expectations in terms of openness, quality and convenience of
public services. The strategic use of data and digital technologies to modernise the public
sector demands increasingly sophisticated skillsets that are most often scarce society-wide and
that the public sector frequently fails to attract. What are the skills and talents needed to
support the organisational and cultural changes in the public sector to enable the emergence
of a digital government. This session will discuss how to identify the skills of a 21st century civil
service, how to plan for them and how a strategy to attract, develop and retain the required
digital skills looks like.
Key questions:
What are the key skills needed to seize the opportunities of the digital transformation
of the public sector? What are the talent and skills needed to support the systems’
transformation?
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
How to put in place an digital skills strategy that can balance the internal permanent
needs and a vibrant private sector able to support the public sector in delivering better
government?
What are the skills and competencies required to foster data-driven public sectors?
3.2 Data as an infrastructure for the digital transformation
Data is a core asset for the digitalisation of public sectors. Governments face the challenge to
promote standardized government data that can be combined and used coherently to develop
tailored services to citizens and businesses, boost administrative efficiency and spur digital
innovation in the public sector. This requires the recognition of data as a key strategic
infrastructure and the management of the data value chain as crucial enabler of greater
public sector intelligence for strategic foresight and efficient monitoring, and of more effective
collaborations for improved service delivery and policy design and implementation.
Key questions:
What approach to promote standards adoption across the public sector in a context of
technological disruption and increased data collection and availability?
How to take the full benefit of algorithms and artificial intelligence for improved data
management for strategic foresight and improved public service delivery?
How to properly reconcile the increasing needs of data exchange across the public
sector while simultaneously reinforcing citizens’ trust on privacy and security
management?
3.3 Commissioning ICT in the digital age: enabling new partnerships and business models to
deliver public value
Technological alternatives ranging from open source to Cloud Computing, the Internet of
Things, blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning and new development
approaches (agile, DevOps, etc) are redefining what digital government can achieve and how
technology can be deployed. In a disrupted world, the public sector is called upon to navigate
complexity, setting apart buzz from value, to use new technologies strategically and develop
new business models that maximise public value. This session will discuss how the public
sector can partner with external stakeholders effectively to innovate, how ready decision
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
makers are to decide strategically on what to insource and what to outsource based on a
holistic approach to the commissioning of IT goods and services for the entire public sector.
Key questions:
What approaches and frameworks can help governments look beyond trends, while
considering risks and uncertainties, to develop a holistic and strategic approach to
technology commissioning and deployment?
How do new trends in digital innovation affect cost-benefit analysis calculations and
the benefit realisation lifecycle? When to build and when to buy? What activities to
insource and when?
How can new forms of partnerships and collaborations make for a more effective
digital government and under what circumstances?
16.30 – 17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 – 18:00 Session 4. International Collaboration
Wrapping up the discussion on the Digital Transformation’s work of the OECD and
collaboration with other organisations .
18.00 – 18:15 Closure Day 1
Mr. Colin MacDonald, Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs and Chief
Information Officer of the Government of New Zealand, Chair of the Working Party of
Senior Digital Government Officials
Ms. Mari Kiviniemi, Deputy Secretary General, OECD
Ms. Anabela Pedroso, Secretary of State of Justice, Portugal
18:15 – 23:30 Social Event
The social event kindly offered by the Portuguese hosts will take place right after the closing of
day 1 at 18h15. Transportation will be provided outside the meeting’s venue to take the
participants on a tour to explore the centennial and authentic Lisbon. The tour will end with a
dinner that will offer the participants a magnificent view of the city.
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies
Day 2 – 22 September 2017
The morning of day 2 (sessions 5, 6 and 7) will be open only to delegates from the OECD
Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials and those countries that have formally
adhered to the OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies.
9.00 - Opening Remarks
9.15 - 11:30 Session 5. Reporting from the E-Leaders Thematic Groups
Following the work developed during the last year, this session will be dedicated to the
presentation and discussion of the results of the E-Leaders Thematic Groups, focused on
sharing experiences on what works and what doesn’t in five specific topics and how these
experiences can inform the work and future activities of the Working Party.
1. Business Cases
2. Digital Service Delivery
3. Digital Identity
4. ICT Procurement
5. Personal Data Ownership and Transparency
11.30-11:45 Coffee break
11:45-13:00 Session 6. Ongoing reviews and reports
This session will allow Working Party delegates to familiarise with some of the bilateral
projects member and partner countries have developed in collaboration with the OECD, based
on the Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies and the Secretariat’s analytical
work, and that feed into the core work of the organisation. After a brief introduction from the
Secretariat on the role of peer reviews for peer learning and to improve policies’ impact,
delegates will be invited to circulate around four stands. In each of these stands, delegates will
learn about different peer reviews or collaborations directly from reviewed countries, peers
and the Secretariat. The stands will showcase the main insights and lessons learned from each
of these reviews as well as the concrete outcomes these projects have led to. The stands will
include the experiences of:
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Brazil: Digital Government Review
Chile: Digital Government Scans on Governance and Strategic Frameworks
Colombia: Impact Assessment Methodology and Digital Government Review
Norway: Digital Government Review
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14:00-16:00 Session 7. Work plan and other internal issues of the Working Party
The seventh and final session of the agenda will allow the Secretariat to update Working Party delegates on outstanding issues including:
Digital government indicators work
Reporting to the Council. Approval of draft report.
OECD Digital Government Toolkit
Discuss the OPSI Commons proposal and upcoming OPSI conference.
The Secretariat will then invite the Working Party to decide on the agenda and work plan of the Secretariat for the upcoming year. Following the session’s input, the OECD Secretariat will prepare a detailed action plan for the year that will be shared with the delegates after the meeting. 16.00 – 16.30 Closing Remarks
Mr. Colin MacDonald, Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs and Chief
Information Officer of the Government of New Zealand, Chair of the Working Party of
Senior Digital Government Officials
Mr. Luiz de Mello, Deputy Director of Public Governance, OECD
Mr. Tiago Antunes, Secretary of State of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers,
Portugal
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The Digital Transformation of the Public Sector Making the right decisions to serve the needs of networked societies