Thailand's digital wallet, Central Asia's trade gateway, and Digital Czech Week
Edition #55 The Thai government's pledge to give 10,000 Baht to every citizen is on hold, while the Czech Republic is embracing the European Year of Digital skills...
In our previous edition, our focus was on digital currencies, following the news that the Digital Euro has been approved to move to a two-year “preparation phase”. As the fallout from this story continues, we were reminded this week that the currency’s development still has some way to go, with a survey finding that 65% of Spaniards would not be interested in using it.
This week, our attention is on governments’ attempts to create digitally upskilled populations. We have written a lot about digital accessibility - and how governments can cater for those people unable to access digital services - but this week sees some great examples of countries digitally upskilling part or all of their population. In support of the European Year of Skills, the Czech Republic is this week hosting a nationwide digital skills festival, while Shanghai’s municipality has developed a new initiative to give digital lessons to the elderly.
Our main stories this week:
The Thai government postpones 10,000 Baht disbursement due to system development
Smart City Expo World Congress will take place this week in Barcelona
UN and Gates Foundation launch “50-in-5” campaign
Don’t forget to check out our GovTech news in brief, the theory behind the practice and upcoming GovTech events.
The Thai government postpones 10,000 Baht disbursement due to system development - Thai PBS World
The Thai government’s plan to distribute 10,000 baht ($276) in digital money to the public by early February is likely to be delayed after problems with its system development.
The digital payment - part of a package of measures to stimulate Thailand’s economy - has been promised to every citizen aged 16 and above
Rather than using existing digital infrastructure - such as the Paotang mobile app which has been in use since the Covid-19 pandemic - the policy’s architects have been developing a blockchain-enabled digital wallet and utility tokens to deliver the payments.
There have been challenges in scaling this blockchain ecosystem, which requires a mandatory “know your customer” process of verifying citizens’ identity when opening and then using an account.
Our Take: This an example of how not to run a digital initiative, and there is a great deal of confusion in Thailand at the moment around the details and progress of this scheme. The Prime Minister admitted this week that there was a need for clearer communications around the project, while it is increasingly likely that the blockchain wallet idea will be dropped all together in favor of the “Paotang” application.
The Smart City Expo World Congress will take place this week in Barcelona
The Smart City Expo World Conference - the world’s largest conference on urban innovation - will have its 2023 edition in Barcelona from November 7-9th.
With over 25,000 in-person attendees and 1,000 exhibitors from 140+ countries, the Smart City Expo brings together some of the biggest voices and actors in the GovTech space today.
In addition to speeches and panels, the Expo will also feature competitions that highlight digital government innovation, including the World Smart City awards.
Tracks for the expo include: Enabling Technologies, Energy and Environment, Mobility, Governance and Economy, Living and Inclusion, Infrastructure and Building, Safety and Security, and the Blue Economy.
UN and Gates Foundation launch “50-in-5” campaign - Adam Tabriz, Newsbreak
The UN has partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure in 50 countries by 2028.
The 50-in-5 campaign focuses on three foundational building blocks of DPI - secure and interoperable digital components - digital identification systems, digital payments, and massive data sharing.
The campaign seeks to demonstrate the power of DPI by showcasing various outcomes across countries with different income levels and digital maturity, while facilitating best practice exchanges, open standards and technology sharing.
The program will be officially launched - and participating countries announced - at an event on 8th November.
GovTech News in Brief
Central Asia Gateway secures coveted Best Trade Information Portal Award at the World Investment Forum - Aida Haidar, Astana Times
Central Asia’s Digital Trade platform - which expedites trade-related information exchange for 280 trade flows across five Central Asian countries - has been named the Best Trade Information Portal at the World Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi.
Our Take: This trade platform is a great example of digital government success that is broader than citizen-facing services. This platform is pivotal in promoting transparency along supply chains, as well as making intraregional trade and cooperation easier.
Analytics.gov, Singapore’s whole-of-government data exploitation platform, provides advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities with cloud - Amazon Web Services, GovInsider
Jeffrey Chai, Product Manager within GovTech Singapore, offers an insight into Analytics.gov, used by more than 1,600 users across 80 government agencies to provide advanced analytics and Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) to government.
Digital Czech Republic Week - Digitální Česko
The Czech government has prepared a digital skills week for the country’s citizens to support the European Year of Skills, with lectures and courses happening around the entire country.
How New South Wales became a digital leader - Peter Gearin, The Mandarin
NSW has for a long time set the pace for digital government in Australia. Narelle Grayson - Chief Digital Officer for the state’s Department of Customer Service - explains how a consistent community-first approach has paved the way for its success.
UK’s National Digital Twin Program (NDTP) - Gov.UK
This central landing page outlines the UK’s plans to grow national capability in digital twinning technologies and processes, with specific case studies in energy and emergency planning/ response.
More local governments in Japan go digital for counter services - JiJi, Japan Times
Thanks to the introduction of “no writing, no waiting, no being sent round” counters, 18% of local governments in Japan have been able to completely digitize their services.
Shanghai Municipal Government’s new campaign connects elderly with digital world - Karen Wong, Marketing Interactive
The “Morning Shanghai” campaign - which encourages the elderly to socially connect - includes a WeChat mini-program to facilitate venue booking for them and offer a range of discounts, integrated within a broader service platform where seniors can acquire knowledge and digital skills through interactive games.
Our Take: In other Digital China news this week, this open access book has been published on the Emergence of China’s Smart State
AI in public services will require empathy, accountability - Australian Government - Yogesh Hirdaramani, GovInsider
The Australian Government has released a report on the use of AI in public services after consultation with stakeholder groups across society, citing their guidelines for use as integrity, empathy, and accountability to the public.
Portuguese citizens can now store their citizen card and driving licenses on their cell phone - Mariana Marques Tiago, Publico
Portugal has just announced that digital versions of 12 common forms of ID will now be treated with the same value as their physical counterparts, according to the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Administrative Modernization.
Digital India is now on Whatsapp
Digital India - India’s flagship program for increased digital government services, identity documents, and online access - has announced an expansion directly to WhatsApp to better serve the needs of its users.
How Ukraine is becoming the world’s number on digital government - Kostiantyn Gridin and Nina Kurochka, Kyiv Post
Ukraine has developed itself into a digital government titan in just a few years after the creation of the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Ukraine’s Diia platform has launched a variety of different government services across identification, educational, and business services to simplify the end user experience while rooting out corruption.
Our Take: Ukraine’s breakneck turnaround in digital development should be seen as a huge accomplishment. Ukraine began its digitalization journey in 2019, and has been able to continue it despite both the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country. Now, other countries are looking to Ukraine’s successes, exemplified by the joint EU/UNDP/MinDigital forum held in Kyiv last month.
Saudi Arabia expands digital government services - Ramadan Al Sherbini, Gulf News
Saudi Arabia’s Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA) has announced an expansion of their Absher digital government services platform, which now allows users to handle the administrative tasks associated with motor vehicles, including transfer of ownership and renewal of driver’s licenses.
Women in GovTech Challenge 2023-24 - GovStack
The Women in GovTech Challenge has announced its inaugural cohort of female GovTech leaders to participate in an intensive industry learning and solutions development program, with the top projects being showcased at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The Theory Behind the Practice
The people’s AI will strengthen, not scupper, democracy - Audrey Tang, ASPI Strategist
Tang explores the work Taiwan is doing to shape AI into a tool that strengthens democracy, calling for farsighted initiatives like Alignment Assemblies to ensure that AI becomes a tool for democratic good.
Our Take: In an inspiring article, this message particularly stood out to us: “there are two sides to every coin. Certain emerging technologies bolster autocracies, but they can also revitalize democracy. How best to combat the pervasiveness of online harms? The solution lies in plurality, or technologies for collaborative diversity, to increase the bandwidth of democracy.”
Urban data for society - Francesca Bria and Aline Blankertz, Tagesspiegel Background
Francesca Bria of the Italian National Innovation Fund outlines the promise of providing more open-source data about public spaces to enable better democratic governance while also maintaining data protection.
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