David Osimo

Defining a taxonomy for research areas on ICT for governance and policy modelling

As governments across the world provide more and more support to open data initiatives and web 2.0 channels for engaging citizens, researchers orient themselves towards future internet, wisdom of crowds and virtual world experiments. In this context, the domain of ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling has recently emerged to achieve better, participative, evidence-based and timely governance. This paper presents a taxonomy classifying the research themes, the research areas and the research sub-areas that challenge this domain in order to deal with its diversity and complexity. Taking into account advancements in research, policy and practice, the taxonomy brings together the open, linked data and visual analytics philosophy; the social media buzz taming collective wisdom in decision-making; and the future internet approaches around cloud computing, internet of things and internet of services, while embracing the collaborative policy modelling aspects and the safeguarding against misuse implications.

Envisioning Digital Europe 2030: Scenarios for ICT in Future Governance and Policy Modelling

The report Envisioning Digital Europe 2030 is the result of research conducted by the Information Society Unit of IPTS as part of the CROSSROAD Project - A Participative Roadmap on ICT research on Electronic Governance and Policy Modelling (www.crossroad-eu.net ). After outlining the purpose and scope of the report and the methodological approach followed, the report presents the results of a systematic analysis of societal, policy and research trends in the governance and policy modelling domain in Europe. These analyses are considered central for understanding and roadmapping future research on ICT for governance and policy modelling. The study further illustrates the scenario design framework, analysing current and future challenges in ICT for governance and policy modelling, and identifying the key impact dimensions to be considered. It then presents the scenarios developed at the horizon 2030, including the illustrative storyboards representative of each scenario and the prospective opportunities and risks identified for each of them. The scenarios developed are internally consistent views of what the European governance and policy making system could have become by 2030 and of what the resulting implications for citizens, business and public services would be. Finally, the report draws conclusions and presents the proposed shared vision for Digital Europe 2030, offering also a summary of the main elements to be considered as an input for the future development of the research roadmap on ICT for governance and policy modelling.

Policy-Making 2.0: Unleashing the Power of Big Data for Public Governance

The chapter provides an overview of the current debate and state of the art in the domain of big data aiming at assessing the current and potential use of information and communications technology (ICT) tools for collaborative governance and policy modelling for opening up government operations and enhance the ‘intelligence’ of the policy-making process. The analysis is based on the roadmapping exercise conducted as part of the CROSSOVER Project: Bridging Communities for Next Generation Policy-Making, an FP7 funded support action of the European Commission, with specific regard to the implications of big data on the research challenges of the Policy-Making 2.0 roadmap, being developed to provide an outline of what technologies are available now for policymakers to improve their work, and what could become available in the future. In order to do so, the chapter provides an analysis based on a meta review and selected results of analysis of case studies to identify the characteristics and benefits resulting from applications of big data techniques and methodologies within the context of ICT solutions for collaborative governance and policy modelling, highlighting opportunities, challenges, and current practices in public governance, in Europe and worldwide. Building on the results of the analysis, implications of big data on policy-making are drawn and future research and policy directions are outlined.

Paving the way for future research in ICT for governance and policy modelling

In light of the contemporary societal challenges and the current technological trends that have revolutionized collaboration and creativity, ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling has recently emerged to achieve a better, participative, evidence-based and timely governance. Bringing together two separate worlds, i.e. the mathematical and complex systems background of Policy Modelling with the service provision, participation and open data aspects in Governance, it has recently gathered significant attention by researchers and practitioners. This paper presents the grand challenges that will inspire research in the domain in the next years, as well as the track from the state of play study, the visionary scenarios building and the gap analysis that has eventually led to their recognition. The specific research challenges target at achieving a collaborative, model-based governance with a strong scientific basis, empowered with data in order to reach collective intelligence, and providing public services as a utility.

ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling: Research Challenges and Future Prospects in Europe

As the role of government in the society is undergoing continuous change, consensus is starting to build around the potential that collaborative technologies have in the field of governance and policy modeling. For effective citizen empowerment and participation to become mainstream, at a greater scale, several challenges will have to be faced, which will require new tools to be developed. The research questions underlying the present paper are: which new ICT-enabled governance models and methods of monitoring, interaction, collaboration for policy making and enforcement are emerging, and which policy modelling mechanisms can be implemented in order to effectively involve citizens in decision making? The paper starts addressing these issues by defining the problem statement and discussing the changing role of the government in the Information Society, also proposing some elements for a conceptualisation of ICT for governance and policy modelling. It further presents the evolving debate on the e-Government and e-Governance agenda developments, as well as the state of the art and the limitations of research in these fields. Main emerging trends and future prospects within the evolving public sector are then anticipated in order to draw some preliminary conclusions outlining the challenges ahead and future research in the field of ICT for governance and policy modelling.

The organisation and coordination of european e-government research for the EU in 2010

The objective of this study – the first of its kind – was to validate and further analyze the specific e-Government research challenges and opportunities for the enlarged European Union that had been identified in previous research. The study reveals some important indications for future EU organisation and coordination of e-Government research activities. The study outlined the fact that the organisation of EU e-Government research should be better linked along the value chain of research (between basic/theoretical, applied, development and review research). The results of the study also indicate that links between eGovernment research and policy should be made more explicit. E-Government research innovations are positioned in a political environment, where research results could bring innovative eGovernment implementation which would support public value as its ultimate goal, through increased efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, the results of the study highlight a number of organisational research challenges such as: the need for more cooperation, collaboration and networking between stakeholders; the opportunity to build synergies in research across public sectors in a truly interdisciplinary way and between different public stakeholders (i.e. along with e-Health, e-Learning, etc.) and the private sector.

Rebooting science? Implications of science 2.0 main trends for scientific method and research institutions

Purpose This paper aims to analyse a set of converging trends underpinning a larger phenomenon called science 2.0 and to assess what are the most important implications for scientific method and research institutions. Design/methodology/approach It is based on a triangulation of exploratory methods which include a wide-ranging literature review, Web-based mapping and in-depth interviews with stakeholders. Findings The main implications of science 2.0 are enhanced efficiency, transparency and reliability; raise of data-driven science; microcontributions on a macroscale; multidimensional, immediate and multiform evaluation of science; disaggregation of the value chain of service providers for scientists; influx of multiple actors and the democratisation of science. Originality/value The paper rejects the notion of science 2.0 as the mere adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in science and puts forward an original integrated definition covering three trends that have not yet been analysed together: open science, citizens science and data-intensive science. It argues that these trends are mutually reinforcing and puts forward their main implications. It concludes with the identification of three enablers of science 2.0 – policy measures, individual practice of scientists and new infrastructure and services and sees the main bottleneck in lack of incentives on the individual level.