Digital Public Administration Summit: Digitalisation is not a matter of choice

03/12/2020

Digitalisation has already conquered the world, the markets and the private sector as well, it is time to make it a conversation topic regarding good governance and good public administration too – said Prof. Dr. László Palkovics, minister for innovation and technology in his welcoming speech on Thursday, at the Digital Public Administration Summit (DPAS) 1^st Workshop online conference.

According to the minister, the government of Hungary had successfully recognised the possibilities residing in digitalisation and artificial intelligence, and developed, as a result, the Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Hungary. He added: one of the most important goals of the strategy is to start the data economy of Hungary. Digital state governance is indispensable to all this, which means the most efficient utilisation of data created during the professional and political functions of the state. The diverse and complex functioning of the public administration cannot be carried out by analogue devices anymore, new institutions and new devices are needed. Prof. Dr. László Palkovics emphasised, unprecedented potentials of artificial intelligence had been exposed by the coronavirus pandemic; applications and solutions based on artificial intelligence could be the answer to protecting against the virus as well as restarting the economy.

This online conference, held on 3 December, dedicated to the innovations of digital public administration, was organised for the first time with the intention of setting a tradition by the joint effort of the Innovációs és Technológiai Minisztérium (Ministry for Innovation and Technology), Belügyminisztérium (Ministry of Interior), Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem (University of Public Service) and the Digitális Jólét Program (Digital Success Programme). At the conference a new milestone of the Digital Success Programme – an initiative affecting the entire digital ecosystem, launched by the Government of Hungary in late 2015 as a result of InternetKon, a national consultation about the Internet and digital developments – was announced, called Digital Success Programme 2030, which had been developed together with the University of Public Service.

Dr. András Koltay, rector of the University of Public Service, highlighted in his welcoming speech that one of the principle tasks of the university was to develop those educational and research programmes, which serve the digitalisation of public services, that is why it supported such mid- and long-term projects like Digital Success Programme 2030. He added: Hungary is performing well when it comes to digital developments. “We will need joint strategy planning by stakeholders from state, higher education and private sectors in the future as well, which will elevate Hungary to the frontline of the most digitally developed countries in the EU. The stakes are double: strengthening the national competitiveness and further improving the digital development of the country as well as decreasing digital disadvantages.”

“While a few years ago we could only say that participating in digitalisation in a proactive manner was the basic condition for a country’s competitiveness, today, in 2020, we must say that digitalisation is as much a question of sovereignty as of competitiveness. The Digital Success Programme 2030 was created as an answer to these challenges, one of the main tasks of which is to prepare the Hungarian public administration for the global challenges and possibilities brought upon by digitalisation, and to develop the areas of functions and interventions of public administration within the 3x3 representational dimension created by DSP 2030. The University of Public Service can be a strategic partner in following and measuring the developments put into the representational frame of DSP 2030” – emphasised in his welcoming speech dr. András Levente Gál, head of the Digital Success Programme (DSP) and the Nemzeti Adatvagyon Ügynökség (National Data Asset Agency, NDAA). He added: the starting point of DSP is that the state is responsible for the digital wellbeing of the people that is why the central topic of DSP 2030 is digital state governance. DSP 2030 determines its strategic goals and intervention points in a triadic division, in the relation of human-machine-system. DSP wishes to continue contributing to the preparation of Hungary for the inevitable digital transformation.

The conference, organised in Hungary, was the first event dedicated to digital public administration and digital state governance. The conference aimed to present national and international innovative solutions, digitalising possibilities, trends, and good examples as well as helping the cooperation of the public and private sector by showcasing all those digital areas (artificial intelligence, cyber security, data based public administration, data driven healthcare, network research) that affected public administration and the functioning of the state and municipalities. Among the speakers of the conference were Károly Hajzer, deputy state secretary of informatics, Ministry of Interior; Dr. Miklós Szócska, dean of the Faculty of Health and Public Administration, Semmelweis University; Prof. Dr. Zoltán Rajnai, cyber-coordinator of Hungary, and several acclaimed international experts, such as Dr. Jonathan Reichental, CIO of O’ Reilly Media; Philippe Fournand, CEO of Blue-sight Conseil or Liu Yunan, director of State Information Center of China.