City of Madrid’s Director General of the Digital Office, Fernando de Pablo, shares what it takes to help shape international conversations around digital transformation in government ahead of the upcoming Govtech4Impact World Congress.
Imagine working on a project by all by yourself, where the results of which can affect thousands and even millions of people. Would you do it?
As daunting as that sounds, digital transformation projects for governments often result with a similar scale of impact.
Read more: ES: Madrid: Designing productive spaces for government innovation conversations
Digital transformation is about how organisations work and people collaborate, explains Fernando de Pablo, director of the Digital Office of the City of Madrid
As cities across Europe accelerate digital transformation, questions of governance, interoperability and public trust are coming to the fore. Despite heavy investment in digital tools, the real challenge lies in how institutions adapt, collaborate and deliver tangible improvements for citizens.
Madrid has emerged as a leading example of this shift, as cities take a more central role in shaping digital public services. The Spanish capital will host the GovTech 4 Impact World Congress (G4I), bringing together policymakers, practitioners and industry leaders to exchange lessons on digital government.
Read more: ES: Cities must lead digital shift, says Madrid’s tech chief
The Government of Gibraltar has announced the rollout of two new “Smart City” initiatives, aimed at improving how the public accesses Government services in person and online.
The services, led by the IT&LD and Digital Services, were available as from Thursday, with further initiatives planned for phased delivery.
The first initiative is the eGov Membership Pass, a free digital service available via an app on iOS and Android, providing an NFC-enabled contactless alternative to the existing physical Gibraltar ID card when interacting with Government services.
This follow-up visit to the one previously conducted by Minister Dalmau had a more operational and technical focus
A Catalan delegation visited Estonia on 9 and 10 February to analyse and explore synergies in the digitalisation processes of public administration in the Baltic country and in Catalonia. The Delegate of the Catalan Governement to the Nordic and Baltic Countries, Montserrat Riba, was part of the delegation, which was led by the Secretary for Telecommunications and Digital Transformation, Albert Tort.
The town hall has just signed off on a 100,000-euro plan to install more CCTV cameras across the municipality, in order to boost both road safety and public security.
The new cameras will be placed in some key areas to keep track of traffic flow, spot incidents quicker, and also make life easier for locals and visitors. They’ll join the network of devices already in use, but with some upgraded tech that plugs into an intelligent management system. In other words: the town is entering into the age of smart surveillance.