22 Jan Publication: ‘Disruptive Technologies and the Public Sector: The Changing Dynamics of Governance’
CEPA senior experts, Christine Leitner and Christian M. Stiefmueller, examine the policy challenges that arise as a result of ever more rapid advances in technology. Technological innovation has shaped and transformed society again and again over the course of history. The advent of the “digital age” is no exception. What has changed, however, is the speed with which waves of new technologies advance and spread. Such innovations as the Internet and mobile phones have emerged and wrought profound changes on societies across the globe within the space of only a few decades. And there are still more such disruptive technologies on the horizon, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Consequently, technology-driven new business models, the geographical dispersion of production and the invention of new products and services are challenging traditional governance patterns and modes of operation around the world and the way governments are perceived by their citizens.
The authors focus on how disruptive technologies affect the role of the State and on the new challenges they pose to policy makers against the underlying conundrum. On the one hand, the widespread belief that the judicious use of technology is imperative for economic and social development and a potential key accelerator and enabler for many, perhaps all, of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On the other hand, however, we still need to fully understand, and adapt to, the governance challenges that arise as a consequence of this unprecedented rate of technological progress. The authors look at how the process of technology adoption interacts with the policy cycle taking into account the three-dimensional relationship between government and technological innovation, since government assumes three different roles, i.e. user, regulator and promoter of innovation. They provide an overview of what they consider to be some of the most significant technological trends of today and the particular opportunities and challenges they pose for policy makers. In doing this, they identify some of the key policy issues that emerge from the disruptive nature of such technologies and discuss their implications on public governance.
This publication is a co-operation with the UNDP Civil Service Hub, Astana (ACSH), and the UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence (GCPSE), Singapore and draws on the international conference on ‘Disruptive Technologies and the Public Sector’, held in Singapore in September 2017, and follow-on discussions and workshops. It is available from the publisher’s website. The authors would like to thank Alikhan Baimenov, Panos Liverakos and Max Everest-Philips, in particular, for their co-operation and support.