4 Key Takeaways from GovTech Summit 2019

On the 14th of November, I joined investors, public servants and other start-ups at the second GovTech Summit in Paris. An event that gathers various international speakers to discuss today's state of GovTech. Below you'll read my 4 takeaways of the day:

1. We passed the POC phase

We passed the POC phase of digital transformation. We now need to keep improving and update what is already there. Increase the knowledge of technology and opt for projects with easy implementation. In other words how Lisa Witter phrased it: "We are making the boring work well".

2. Policy entrepreneurs

My second takeaway is about the pledge for more policy entrepreneurs in government. The meaning is two-folded. First, it means working more agile with shorter and smaller projects. Working on 5-year programmes is something from the past.

Secondly, entrepreneurs refer to the ability to take risks and learn from mistakes. The management of public organisations at the summit asked for a cultural mind-switch.

"If we want to have goodness we can not expect it to be right from the first time" - AWS

3. Technology is not only for the elite

A panel member stated: "technology is not only for the elite". The elite he refers to is the small group of early adopters amongst citizens and civil servants who fully believe in the digital transformation. They encouraged the audience to invest in digital inclusion and to focus on those individuals who need more convincing and/or support. The president of Estonia sums it up: "It is all about people, there is no use in developing solutions that are not being used". Something to keep in mind.

4. Transparency on citizen’s data

I heard it before by Barbara Van Den Haute from Informatie Vlaanderen and heard it again at the conference. We need to give the data ownership back to the citizen. Governments should create the legal space that on the one hand clearly protects the privacy of citizens. On the other hand, leaves the freedom for companies to experiment with anonymised data. So they can create new GovTech solutions.

To wrap-up

I expected to hear a lot of buzzwords on the newest technologies and trends. Instead, I was positively surprised that the overall tone was to focus on a human-centric digital government and to improve what's already there. I am curious what GovTech Summit 2020 will bring.