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Government-Adopted Disruptive Solutions Accelerate Service Innovation

When the government puts its weight behind an innovation, the impact is felt by vast swathes of the population and changes lives for the better. From Indonesia to India, Denmark, Mexico, the US, and the UAE, proactive decision-makers in what some call the golden age of government innovation are changing the way the world works. OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation calls this trend “the new normal”. Using innovation, the bureaucracy in Bangladesh can distribute welfare payments via mobile phones, bypassing the requirement to visit bank branches in a largely cash-driven environment. In Pakistan, dengue-eradication receives a shot in the arm when employees responsible for spraying insecticide are given apps that allow them to geo-tag the affected and sprayed areas, increasing efficiency and facilitating a planned response.

At the World Government Summit (WGS) in Dubai on February 11-13, 2018, government innovation is one of the focus areas with prominent speakers such as Cass Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard, speaking on A Nudge Towards Wellbeing under the overarching theme of How Governments Design for Happiness and Wellbeing. Also, Overwriting History: The Future of Global Governance and Net States is the topic of discussion for Francis Fukuyama, Political Scientist and Economist, in a session moderated by Dr. Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. 

Noted Theoretical Physicist and Futurist Professor Michio Kaku discusses: Are Governments Ready for a Dynamic Future?. Professor Jeffery Sachs, Director, Center for Sustainable Happiness, Columbia University, speaks on The Global Happiness Policy Report: Practical Guidelines to Increasing Happiness.

THE DIGITAL IMPERATIVE

With technology now being used to deliver everything from financial inclusion to health, governments are the means by which the digital divide can be bridged. Recent proof of this was shared in the January 2018 UN report ‘Achieving universal and affordable internet in least developed countries’, according to which the world’s 47 least developed nations have managed to launch third generation (3G) mobile telephony and data services so their societies can get on the fast track to sustainable development.

“Least developed countries with a strong government commitment, recognizing the importance of digital technologies for national development, and backed by enlightened policy and regulatory actions including steps to develop skills, can achieve universal and affordable access to the internet,” said Houlin Zhao, the Secretary-General of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Citizen participation in decision-making is another way in which governments are using digital technology. Participatory budgets are a reality in many dominions; from the French capital Paris, where the mayor set up a website to invite citizens to suggest ideas on how to spend the budget, to Portugal, where the government started a nationwide effort to invite proposals in specific sectors. Call it crowd-sourcing, participatory decision-making, or citizen engagement, the idea is not new.

However, in its digital avatar, it is far easier to implement – Portugal plans to utilize bank ATMs to display proposals so that people in rural areas can vote on their machines. In Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, tweets questions to the public asking for ideas related to the national youth dialogue, improve of health and education services, or even to name the UAE Mars Probe.

DATA AND INSIGHT

Big data is another big idea that is being put to use by governments who combine citizen insight with data and analytics to improve services. In Indonesia, for example, PetaBencana.id combines sensor data with citizen reports over social media to produce real-time flood maps. With a tagline of ‘Selfies save lives’, the solution was introduced in Jakarta, which experiences regular flooding and has one of the highest concentration of twitter users in the world.

“The system is programmed to react when someone in Jakarta tweets the word ‘banjir’ (flood) and tags @PetaJkt. PetaBencana.id automatically replies, and asks them to confirm the tweet with geo-tagged photos. The platform then combines all incoming reports with official data from the city government to build an up-to-the-minute, online flood map,” an OECD paper on innovation in government reports.

Similarly, in Amsterdam, smart lighting on cycle paths can be controlled by the cyclist via a GeoLight app on their phones. When there is no activity on the path, the lights, which use electricity from floating solar panels and wind turbines, dim again.

Open data policies and laws allow governments to create more transparent governance and smarter systems. Using this data, the industry, the government, and innovators can create solutions that are effective for a particular context.

DESIGN-LED INNOVATION

Design-led thinking is another lesson that innovative governments have learnt quickly. Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower’s Work Pass Division has become a case study of sorts after implementing user interfaces that take into account the very human frustration of jobseekers. By mapping the behavior of foreign workers at processing centers, new centers were created where wait time was shortened, and lobbies appeared less congested.

Similarly, Denmark has applied design-led thinking in various ways – to rationalize waste management and to transform services for the mentally ill.

In South Korea, international business district Songdo City, which will be ready by 2020, is being designed to eliminate the need for cars. In Dubai and in Abu Dhabi, urban design principles are being used to create live, work, and play spaces with the ultimate aim of increasing happiness.

There is a clear government policy push to create more resident-friendly spaces. At the World Government Summit in February 2015, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) released a paper on Smart Cities using examples such as Masdar, which was master-planned in 2006. Instead of looking for ways to get from A to B, the idea is to get A, B, and C within walking distance of each other to provide for a better quality of life.

MAKING PARTNERSHIPS WORK

Partnerships take the idea of participation one step further. Worldwide, the idea of public-private partnership received a boost at the 21st Conference of Parties or COP21 held in Paris in December 2015. For the first time, not only did 196 governments pledge to take action to keep global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius – the threshold beyond which scientists caution irreversible warming and planetary change will be inevitable – but unprecedentedly, the private sector joined hands more visibly and actively than before.

In another example, consumer products giant Nestlé’s program targeting childhood obesity has been adopted by various governments. Ajyal Salima, Nestlé’s Middle East curriculum designed by the American University of Beirut, works with various ministries in the region. Turning the big food juggernaut on its head, Tanzania and other African countries have used Coca-Cola’s distribution network to navigate the last mile in delivery of life-saving medicines.  



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