Constructing a Digital Society

As a technical scientist and a leader, I understand the degree of interconnectedness between humans and technology. I believe that advancements in technology are only possible by empowering people to experiment with the capabilities of technology. Breakthroughs can only be achieved through collaboration and working on multiple approaches simultaneously and also by learning from failures. The key is to let your team members know that they are trusted and that they are making a significant contribution to the progress of your organization.

Effectively engaging the citizens of a nation and living up to their expectations is the objective of all governments. The government of Estonia has established an e-governance platform that has helped their country become the most advanced digital society in the world. Other European nations have also undertaken a comprehensive digital transformation such as UK’s Government Digital Services initiative. Unlike federal governments, ours is a city government, and our objective is to address the immediate requirements of our citizens. Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency is at the crossroads of developing a center of data excellence that will help us manage data from disparate sources, analyze it to obtain valuable insights, and ultimately automate our workflows. This will help improve our sustainable capabilities and enable sensible policymaking.

You are a computational mathematician and have been credited for the development of the ANUGA computational model. Could you tell us more about this project?

ANUGA is an open source hydrodynamic computational model that the department of mathematics developed at the Australian National University. Our objective was to predict the effect of hydrological disasters on man-made structures accurately. It analyzes the possible consequences of tsunamis and surge storms on particular areas rather than just giving generalized statements based on wave heights. We developed it as an open source model as we believe that open source development creates high-quality software. The success of our project was mainly the result of the collaboration of the right people and an agile development approach; these are the factors that I think are crucial to the success of any technological development.

To help the leaders in the technology space adapt to the volatile technological world and prepare for the future, what would be your advice to them?

Data is the new oil and is the most valuable asset in today’s world. Every government should work toward leveraging the data to achieve better administrative outcomes. However, they should ensure that the privacy of the citizens is not compromised. The digital transformation is not solely tied to advancements in IT; there are multiple facets that governments should consider during this journey. Government officials need to listen to the needs of the people and be aware of what is going on around them.

Citizens are increasingly interacting with each other using mobile devices, and governments should not fall behind in this regard. It is necessary to create platforms where citizens can seamlessly access government services through mobile phones. The most important factor, I believe, is to encourage all stakeholders to forego their reluctance and wholeheartedly embrace this digital transformation.