IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

On the path to a smart city future, a handful of population centers are showing its potential.

By 2050, the UN predicts that 70 percent of the global population will live in urban areas. The influx of citizens moving to cities accelerates urbanization around the world, and many nations are looking to adopt smart city concepts to coincide with this unprecedented growth.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed emphasised that “the launch of the new award was in line with the m-Government initiative which was launched last week to define the future e-government that will be racing against time to identify and fulfill the public needs around the clock in an innovative manner that will exceed their expectations.”

DEWA won the category of government bodies offering 'less than 50' e-Services. The report included assessments of DEWA's e-Services, which reflected positively on the solid and stable performance of DEWA's systems, e-Service connections, requirements and time of response.

In his address at the award ceremony, Major General Al Raisi stated: "The Best Government Interoperable Service Award received by the UAE, represented by the Ministry of Interior, has been achieved thanks to the considerable support of our Higher Leadership. It also follows the higher leadership's wise instructions on the need for hard and distinguished work, to offer the best and finest services to the public, at all times and in an innovative manner, as per its leading smart government initiative," he said.

The awards recognise excellence, innovation and professionalism in the use of information and communications technology and nominations came from all spheres of government across Australia.

Senior Manager of MoneySmart, Robert Drake said the award was a fantastic acknowledgement of ASIC’s unique approach to helping the community with money matters.

The organization has announced in association with the Internet Awards Academy in the Arab region the LMRA has won the e-government shield award in the category of official and governmental authorities in its third edition.

Mit ‚Maerker’ können Bürger seit einem Jahr in den inzwischen 26 teilnehmenden brandenburgischen Kommunen per Mausklick auf Ordnungsmängel aufmerksam machen und deren Abstellung verfolgen. Über 2.300 Maerker-Hinweise gingen so bisher über das Internet bei den beteiligten Kommunen ein. Innenminister Rainer Speer beglückwünschte die Macher von Maerker zu ihrer Idee und deren engagierter Umsetzung: „Maerker zeigt, worauf es ankommt: Der Bürgerkontakt muss einfacher werden, Verwaltungsarbeit transparenter, aber auch verlässlicher und die Ergebnisse für jeden sichtbarer. Das alles bietet in erfreulichem Maße ‚Maerker’.“ Hier zeige die Kommune, dass sie sich um die örtlichen Ärgernisse der Bürger kümmere. Sie ist gleichzeitig unbürokratisch Vermittler, wenn einmal jemand anders zuständig ist.

Innenminister Jörg Schönbohm, der auch in der Landesregierung für E-Government zuständig ist, betonte: „E-Government ist derzeit die wichtigste Triebkraft für die Modernisierung der Verwaltung. Die erneute Auszeichnung unterstreicht, dass Brandenburg zu den Vorreitern der Verwaltungsmodernisierung und den Impulsgebern im E-Government in Deutschland zählt."

The City of Toronto's website ranked first in content and second overall behind Seoul, South Korea's municipal website. Toronto improved from tenth place to second in the 2009 report for digital governance. It was the third most usable municipal website in 2011, but did not make the top 10 cut in privacy and security or social engagement.

E-government uses the Internet to deliver services for citizens more conveniently and efficiently. We choose to use e-services because they take only minutes to complete and save us a trip to a government office. Among the “popular” ones is online payment for parking tickets.

"Delhi was voted the best e-governed state by its denizens for meeting nine out of 14 parameters set for the survey," Dataquest's chief editor Prasanto K Roy said in a statement in Bangalore on Friday evening.

From land record registration to registering a new birth to getting an affidavit for income, Gujaratis do it all the e-way. Gujarat has recorded 8.80 crore e-transactions in the said period in the standard services provided under state government projects. Andhra Pradesh comes second with 7.87 crore e-transactions.

All of the e-solutions will go on to compete at the Estonian round of the World Summit Award 2011 which recognizes creative use of digital media.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts said the results showed that people have the greatest appreciation for services with practical benefits for them.

The eGovernment Benchmark 2012 report surveyed 28,000 internet users across 32 countries.

While generally EU's e-services users are more satisfied with Internet baking and commerce than pubic Internets services, for Estonia, the comparative study points out state portal eesti.ee where people have access to more than a hundred state e-services and sources of information.

PCC won the Supreme Award on Monday (3 May) at the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) Web Symposium in Wellington. Council Website Manager Dale Hartle, who accepted the award, says since ALGIM began the survey in 2008, the PCC website has gone from strength to strength.

"In 2008 we came 23rd and took on board the feedback that year to where we pulled ourselves up to third place last year. We were thrilled with that ranking and of course continued to fine tune the site. Even so I was flabbergasted when Porirua City Council was named the Supreme winner that words escaped me - and I'm a Distinguished Toastmaster. It's like winning the Oscars of the web world!"

In particular, the costs of telecommunication infrastructure and human capital have hampered e-government development, according to the 2010 United Nations E-Government Survey. The survey, released this year, notes that since 2008, governments have made strides to enhance online services, and transparency still stands as the bridge to public trust.

Transportation Minister Kamal Ahmed said Bahrain had taken great strides in making the latest in ICT available to people.

He was speaking at the opening session of Meet ICT - an annual gathering of ICT professionals and experts from Bahrain and the region, which is being organised by Gulf Future Business in co-operation with Bahrain ICT Suppliers Trade Association (BISTA).

The government.ae portal won the 1stplace in the category of Best Government Website Award in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) within the Internet Awards contest held on the sidelines of the Internet and Mobile Show 2012 that ended recently in Dubai and was organized by Terrapin.

Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif got information directly from the divisional commissioners, Irrigation Minister and concerned officials through video conference about the steps taken with regard to possible flood in the province and issued on the spot necessary directions.