Gianluca Misuraca

e-Government 2015: exploring m-government scenarios, between ICT-driven experiments and citizen-centric implications

After introducing the challenges and failures of first generation e-government (identified as e-Gov 1.0), and the rhetoric of the next generation of e-government efforts (identified as e-Gov 2.0), this paper presents an analysis of the promises of m-government, a relatively new phenomenon whose potential is largely unknown and unexplored but is already considered by many to be the most important subset of future e-government services. Discussing some cases of m-government technologies and applications worldwide, the paper identifies a number of risks and research questions to be further elaborated. In practice, are we about to go through a major adapting societal move, partly due to information and communication technologies (ICTs) but also to other co-factors likely to influence our near future (socio-political-economic and environmental trends), or are we just passing through a natural evolution (eventually faster than others occurred in the past)? Within this particular dynamic, the paper further addresses the importance of looking at what the various emerging scenarios may be, and which ones have to be considered and eventually deployed in terms of policy-relevant and favourable cost–benefit perspectives.

Digital Europe 2030: designing scenarios for ICT in future governance and policy making

Abstract The article outlines a set of visionary scenarios on how the European society could develop by 2030 by using advanced ICT tools and modelling techniques and integrating them into governance processes and policy making mechanisms. These scenarios have been designed through a foresight exercise conducted by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) as part of the CROSSROAD Project, a support action of the European Commissions 7th Framework Programme. After presenting the conceptual framework and methodological approach followed, the scenario design framework developed and the resulting views of what the European Information Society might be by 2030 are presented. The article follows with a discussion of the implications of the scenarios design in terms of key areas of expected change and grand challenges to be addressed. It concludes by identifying policy challenges and proposing possible future research directions in the domain of ICT for governance and policy modelling needed to build a truly open Digital Europe twenty years from now.

Smart Cities Governance

Most of the definitions of a “smart city” make a direct or indirect reference to improving performance as one of the main objectives of initiatives to make cities “smarter”. Several evaluation approaches and models have been put forward in literature and practice to measure smart cities. However, they are often normative or limited to certain aspects of cities’ “smartness”, and a more comprehensive and holistic approach seems to be lacking. Thus, building on a review of the literature and practice in the field, this paper aims to discuss the importance of adopting a holistic approach to the assessment of smart city governance and policy decision making. It also proposes a performance assessment framework that overcomes the limitations of existing approaches and contributes to filling the current gap in the knowledge base in this domain. One of the innovative elements of the proposed framework is its holistic approach to policy evaluation. It is designed to address a smart city’s specificities and can benefit from the active participation of citizens in assessing the public value of policy decisions and their sustainability over time. We focus our attention on the performance measurement of codesign and coproduction by stakeholders and social innovation processes related to public value generation. More specifically, we are interested in the assessment of both the citizen centricity of smart city decision making and the processes by which public decisions are implemented, monitored, and evaluated as regards their capability to develop truly “blended” value services—that is, simultaneously socially inclusive, environmentally friendly, and economically sustainable.

From Practice to Theory and back to Practice: Reflexivity in Measurement and Evaluation for Evidence-based Policy Making in the Information Society ☆

This article presents a comprehensive review of literature and practice on the measurement and evaluation of ICT impact in general and of selected public eServices (eGovernment, eHealth, and eInclusion), within the context of the Information Society paradigm. It calls for a sustained meta-level analysis, in which it is important to have a self-reflexive layer where we evaluate and measure how we evaluate and measure, and what the implications and the trade-offs are. The analysis justifies the call for reflexivity as a necessary step towards advancing our understanding of the impact of ICT within the Information Society domains observed. The article concludes presenting some possible ways of re-coupling the conceptual and technical dimensions of the measurement process and linking the production of measurement data more closely with impact evaluation causal models and hypotheses. It suggests that this could be achieved by refocusing on the micro level and stimulating a gradual micro-macro link through an intermediate (meso) level, which effects need to be described using different measurements and evaluation paradigms. In order to do so it is required to refine and test our theories and models to find out where it would be most feasible to scale up to the global (macro) level and to shape and inform the production of more valid measurement indicators for better informing evidence-based policy making in the Information Society

Interoperability challenges for ICT-enabled governance: towards a pan-European conceptual framework

In the European academic and institutional debate, interoperability is predominantly seen as a means to enable public administrations to collaborate within Members State and across borders. The article presents a conceptual framework for ICT-enabled governance and analyses the role of interoperability in this regard. The article makes a specific reference to the exploratory research project carried out by the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commissions Joint Research Centre on emerging ICT-enabled governance models in EU cities (EXPGOV). The aim of this project is to study the interplay between ICTs and governance processes at city level and formulate an interdisciplinary framework to assess the various dynamics emerging from the application of ICT-enabled service innovations in European cities. In this regard, the conceptual framework proposed in this article results from an action research perspective and investigation of e-governance experiences carried out in Europe. It aims to elicit the main value drivers that should orient how interoperable systems are implemented, considering the reciprocal influences that occur between these systems and different governance models in their specific context.

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.

Assessing emerging ICT-enabled governance models in European cities: results from a mapping survey

The paper presents the preliminary results of an exploratory survey conducted by the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission. The main goal of the research is to deepen the understanding of the interplay between ICTs and governance processes at city level in the EU by looking at what new ICT-enabled governance models are emerging in European cities and what are their key socio-economic implications. In this preliminary phase efforts have been directed towards addressing the following research question: what key city governance policy areas ICTs impact most and what governance changes are driven by ICTs? This questions have been investigated through a questionnaire based online survey. The evidence collected provided a comprehensive mapping of the use of ICTs in European cities as well as the views of policy makers, city government officials, practitioners and researchers, on the way ICTs are influencing governance processes. The evidence collected shows that new ICT-enabled governance models are emerging, and it allowed to identify the main dimensions of change, drivers, barriers, enablers and characteristics, as well as opportunities, risks and challenges associated with them.

Shaping public sector innovation theory: an interpretative framework for ICT-enabled governance innovation

The paper discusses from a conceptual standpoint the need for renewing the lenses through which looking at the phenomenon of ICT-enabled innovation in governance and policy-making, suggesting that a possible ‘new theory of public sector innovation´ should be advanced. In doing this, it should be considered the specific networked structure of governance systems, the policy-making goals of public value, as well as the various constituencies and stakeholders’ relationships that characterize the public sector. For this purpose, the paper first presents the key findings of an extensive literature review conducted to support the quest for renewing ICT-enabled innovation in the public sector and the manner in which it is measured and evaluated. Then, building on recent research conducted by the authors an interpretative framework to assess how ICT-enabled innovations produce changes in governance processes is proposed and discussed. The paper ends with conclusions and indications on future research.

Accelerating Policy Making 2.0: Innovation directions and research perspectives as distilled from four standout cases

Abstract People are lately re-considering the advantages of becoming once again an active part of the society, as they everyday discover new ways of connecting with each other towards common goals. This increasing change of attitude calls for new tools and methods as traditional tools for policy making have proved unable to predict and cope with most of todays pressing and persistent challenges. In this context, it is considered as of pivotal importance to study a set of representative set of modern Policy Making 2.0 best cases, in order to scout towards evidence-based future directions, policy propositions, documented results and conclusions. The purpose of the paper at hand is to provide policy makers, practitioners, as well as other interested stakeholders, with a bouquet of (mostly ICT-related) policy implications and practical recommendations that steam through an evidence based, domain-wide study, aiming at directing them towards more efficient and effective launch, steering and sustaining of Policy Making 2.0 initiatives. Early engagement of stakeholders, openness, user friendliness and agility in the whole procedure constitutes only a high level presentation of the propositions and implications derived as a result of the analysis that follows.

E-governance for development: lessons learned and strategic principles for designing an operational roadmap

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and governance. The paper discusses its implications for developing and emerging countries, in particular in the Mediterranean region. In defining the organisational and institutional dimensions underpinning ICT-enabled governance, the paper positions e-government activities within the broader framework of e-governance, as a learning type of dynamics. Finally, the paper presents selected results from field cases of the application of the e-government for Mediterranean Countries (MCs) (eG4M) methodology. The results are used as the main tools for defining issues to be considered for developing e-governance guidelines.