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Mondays could always start like this: with a croissant and café at the beautiful Hôtel de Ville in Paris, talking about digital innovation and technology – in this instance, how it transforms the way government works. The first GovTech Summit on 12 November, gathered more than 3’000 corporates, startups, civil servants, investors, politicians and academics.
GovTech is about the future of government: how it well leverage new technologies to collect taxes, deliver services, distribute welfare, maintain security and much more. Increasingly, startups are taking over activities which previously were only done by governments. They help streamline them and make them more user-friendly for citizens. My aim was to gather insights on how other countries manage the challenges posed by digital transformation, how they harness the opportunities, and learn from international best practices from other governments that could be applied in Switzerland too.
Interesting, in my opinion, is the prioritization of this topic at the highest level: The GovTech Summit was supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the European Commission. Hosting the 8th Internet Governance Forum and the GovTech Summit during the same week under #Parisdigitalweek sends a strong message.
Last May, French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted digital transformation by welcoming 140 of the most important tech leaders in the world at the Vivatech in Paris, and reminded them to use tech for good.
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Seldom have I read an interview where a political leader was so invested in mastering a technical topic (or used expert advisers to brief him), as in Macron’s WIRED-interview on France’s Artificial Intelligence strategy.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, and Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada opened the first GovTech Summit. Macron himself was busy opening that same day the Internet Governance Forum in Paris on the topic of ‘Internet of Trust’.
Anne Hidalgo made a strong pledge to use technological progress for the benefit of all, that it should serve humans and the social good, and help tackle global challenges like climate change and the protection of democracy. In her view, the underlying values are the basis for digital transformation.
Justin Trudeau reiterated this belief and shared his vision, which is a positive and liberating one. Technologies should be used to enhance democracies and empower its people instead of undermining them and fostering polarization. He also made clear that technology can be used to the detriment of the people. He sees it as the government’s responsibility to do a better job and offer an alternative. How to empower and involve citizens on the topic of tech is key to him.
Even though Trudeau admitted that he sees developments such as AI with a critical eye and calls for a common framework in the future, Canada is making an optimistic and confident choice to become a leader in this field: ‘When faced with tech disruptions like AI, societies can either embrace status quo or ‘dive into the future, accept that there are going to be transformations but if you are faster, dig deeper, then you can come out ahead.’
China and its use of data was a popular topic throughout the summit. Trudeau believes China has an advantage through its ability to access large volumes of data, but this could be detrimental to the country’s citizens. He also proposed to establish a common framework for the ethical development of artificial intelligence.
European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel recognised that people are worried about AI and privacy issues and underlined the need for common values: ‘Our citizens are concerned about AI. AI doesn’t know any borders. Our approach is on values. We need to talk about privacy protection.’
Marietje Schaake, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament also expressed concerns about the use of data in China: “In Europe, we haven’t really comprehended the fundamental challenge that China and its top down governing of technology is coming our way. We need to understand what’s at stake and start designing for the outcomes we want.”
Many speakers emphasised the need for Europe’s increased involvement in technology and to not leave this area solely to China and the US. In parallel to the GovTech Summit, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the Internet Governance Forum and called for a European internet, which carries European values and ideas.
With challenges such as changing demographics, ageing populations and the rise of medical costs for instance, it is in the interest of all to seek more efficient ways to afford the same level or better healthcare. The same goes for most public services. Building digital competencies right at the center of government makes processes and operations more effective and thus, creates value that serves the citizens directly. New technologies open up possibilities to the government to first understand better their citizen’s opinion and second, which services are actually used and needed. A more citizen-centric approach is the result.
Jennifer Pahlka, Founder of Code for America, in an interview with PBS calls it a ‘delivery-driven government’: “If the interactions between citizens and the government drive creation of policies and operations, it is a fundamentally different game.” She recommends to take what we have learned in the tech world and apply it to more bureaucratic systems – to hack bureaucracy. However, it is not just about creating new fancy apps for the government, it is about a new way of thinking, a system change.
GovTech and Civic Tech will certainly grow in importance in the future – especially in Switzerland, where according to certain rankings, we still fall short. The IMD Digital Competitiveness Report positions Switzerland behind when it comes to E-Voting for example.
For my part, I believe that GovTech can make government services better and serve the common good and the people. Understanding new technologies isn’t easy for everyone. It requires education and the involvement of the people to prevent a social and generational divide. And importantly, GovTech will never be a substitute for elections or citizens’ involvement. It can be a bridge and a new means to communicate with governmental officials and the administration to make processes more efficient, transparent, accessible and user-friendly.
Following a successful Swiss Digital Day where we opened the dialogue with the Swiss public on technology and innovation, our first Digital Gipfel Schweiz (Digital Summit Switzerland) took place on 5 and 6 November with over 80 CEOs from leading national and international companies, academic institutions and government representatives to discuss digital transformation in Switzerland. The event was organized in partnership with EY Switzerland and Ringier.
The aim of the summit was to underline the importance of digital transformation in Switzerland, to promote dialogue and interaction between business, research and political leaders and to support change so that the country can remain at the forefront of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Marc Walder, Founder of digitalswitzerland and CEO Ringier: “After the second Digital Day, this first Digital Gipfel Schweiz is another important initiative from digitalswitzerland. While the Digital Day was for the general public, this event provides a platform for exchange on digital transformation for the most important executives from business, research and government”.
On stage, Alexander Karp, Co-Founder and CEO of the US software company Palantir, Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of the technology group ABB, Robert Gentz, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the e-commerce platform Zalando, Philipp Metzger, Director of the Federal Office of Communications and Chairman of the interdepartmental working group “Digital Strategy Switzerland”, Sascha Zahnd, VP Global Supply Chain Tesla as well as Daniel Wiegand, Co-Founder and CEO of the airline Lilium, shared case studies, best practices and engaged with the audience through Q&A sessions. Marcel Stalder, CEO EY Switzerland and member of the digitalswtizerland Executive Committee: “The programme was designed in such a way that top people from politics and business could exchange ideas with major technology companies. We must face up to the digital transformation in Switzerland and actively accompany the change there.”
The programme covered topics like Industry 4.0, Digital Competitiveness, Education, E-Commerce and Mobility. Christos Cabolis, Chief Economist and Head of Operations at IMD shared findings from the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2018, where Switzerland ranks 5th, highlighting the country’s strengths and potential challenges. Patrick Warnking, Country Director Google Switzerland and member of the digitalswtizerland Executive Committee highlighted the importance of education, and more particularly lifelong education. He underlined the value of supporting Swiss SMEs in their digital transformation; for this digitalswitzerland has developed the Adapt programme. He talked about fostering passion for STEM and ICT subjects through digitalswitzerland’s Next Generation. Furthermore, he underlined the role of lifelong learning in staying competitive on the labour market, notably by leveraging platforms like Education Digital.
Following this successful first edition of the Digital Gipfel Schweiz, it will be on our agenda again next year in November 2019.
We are happy to share a guest blog from one of our Digital Day partner organizations, Isabelle Vautravers from Sanitas Health Insurance Foundation, addressing one of the Digital Day themes: My Data
Fitness apps, health trackers, nutrition programs: in recent years, the ways of collecting, evaluating and comparing personal data have virtually exploded. How does this influence our behaviour and what does it mean for social cohesion? A Swiss survey shows astonishing results.
Half the adults in Switzerland track their activities and statuses on smartphones or other portable devices. Two out of three respondents feel this does not go far enough: they would like more data collected automatically – as long as this is not done by a third party. Though 70 percent of respondents use free email and instant messaging services, only 14 percent think it’s okay for their data to be used in exchange for these free services. These results come from a survey of the Swiss population conducted by the Sotomo Research Centre on behalf of the Sanitas Foundation.
Despite the openness towards digital data collection, respondents view critically the social consequences of digitalisation. You can see this through the buzzwords they selected in this context: from the suggested options, the terms they most frequently chose were “control and surveillance”, followed by “loss of individuality”.
Six out of ten respondents believe that the advancing collection of digital data has a negative impact on solidarity in our society. They associate a world of data collecting with control, efficiency and pressure to perform. For them, this puts solidarity and personal responsibility under pressure. Countermeasures should be established to strengthen the community and personal responsibility. Most believe that neither the state nor companies are ultimately responsible for these countermeasures, but that responsibility lies with each individual.
The Sanitas Health Insurance Foundation works on important social issues in the fields of insurance, health and digitalisation. The debate should not only be led by experts, politicians and business representatives, but include the voice of the public. To achieve greater inclusion, the Foundation has initiated a series of surveys in collaboration with the Sotomo Research Centre to ask the Swiss public about digital data collection in their daily activities.
Our members are private companies from all sectors, public organizations, academia, non-profit organizations. But they all have one mission: Making Switzerland a leading digital innovation hub – worldwide. Digitalization will disrupt existing structures and business models at unprecedented speed and even challenge states. So, it is high time to start innovative and forward thinking to bring Switzerland to the next digital level. This is why digitalswitzerland exists: We wand to bundle forces and make Switzerland the place where digital innovation starts and our future is created. We know, this is a very ambitious mission, but as a proverb goes: Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
We have five major pillars: education & talent, start-up enablement, corporate enablement, public dialog and political-economic environment. In each of these pillars we have several projects with the aim to advance digital innovation. And overall, we try to coordinate between different stakeholders, to offer services on questions about digitalization and to bring light into the dark by organizing events and workshops on topics such as blockchain, cybersecurity, e-health and so on. Some examples with regards to our projects:
We would like to thank our more than 100 members for everything we achieved in such a short period of time. We know that without their power and endurance in all the initiatives and projects we would not be where we are today. So thank you very much for your continuous support!
After not even three fulminant years and many implemented projects, we are looking very optimistic into the future. With the support of more than 100 members and our high-level network, we will tackle the coming challenges and our aim is to create an even bigger impact for our members and Switzerland as a whole. Are you ready for the ride? We are!
Get involved in our projects or please subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter and we will keep you posted about all things digitalswitzerland!
The early bird catches the worm! This saying was particularly true on Wednesday, 24 January 2018. digitalswitzerland organized a high-level panel discussion and breakfast on the topic: «Switzerland, the world’s most innovative country at the intersection of technological innovation and social acceptance.» At the panel in the Palantir Pavillon in Davos discussed early risers Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation, Alexander Karp, CEO and co-founder of Palantir, Philipp Rösler, former managing director of WEF and Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier and initiator of digitalswitzerland. The digitalswitzerland-breakfast was attended by many C-Level members of digitalswitzerland.
After a short introduction of Alexander Karp, where he talked about the journey of Palantir technologies and hippie times, he addressed the issue of data. According to Karp the big challenge is the question of who controls data ownership. What happens with our data should not be decided in Silicon Valley, he believes. Instead the state should make the final decision regarding data ownership, privacy and ethical questions. Karp: «Digitization raises moral, ethical and economic questions that can only be answered by the state.»
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Another topic discussed, concerned the importance of a digital identity in Switzerland. Marc Walder thinks that companies have the responsibility to be transparent and open when it comes down to personal data. It is a trust issue: «People need to know what happens with their data.» He further pointed out that if we look at the ten most valuable tech companies, we see that there are zero tech companies in Europe. «For Switzerland it is about being an innovation driver and not being a copycat nation.» In his words, Switzerland is «feeling very little pain» and needs to understand the importance of ‘being digital.’
One other thing that makes our country a more ‘digital Switzerland’ is education. Marc Walder told the audience that his daughter is still learning the exact same subjects as he himself did, 45 years ago. «She goes to school as there were no digital skills needed.» Walder proposes that mandatory coding classes could be a way for children to get ready for a a more and more digitized world. Alain Berset added to this statement that children should especially acquire social competences to be able to understand what the digital transformation means in concrete terms. Geneva councilor Pierre Maudet, who was present in the audience, proposed that children could for example learn how to pitch. Getting to the heart of a big idea in short sentences is according to him a skill that is useful in every kind of learning or work environment.
The Swiss business leaders who gathered early in the morning not only left well fed, but also with new food for thought. How can Switzerland stay on top in terms of digital innovation and become an innovation driver, while dealing with sensitive issues such as data privacy? What role will have the private, but also the public sector in the digital transformation? These questions will continue to be of concern for thinkers, transformers and everyone on an individual level.
digitalswitzerland will try to stay on top of all these things as well, please subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter and we will keep you posted!
Are nation states outdated and will technology take over our world? Will we be all Google citizens or Amazon-ians one day? Business leaders, techies and the brightest minds from Silicon Valley and Europe gathered on 18 January 2018 to discuss this year’s WorldWebForum provocative topic «end of nation». A vibrant and enthusiastic conference crowd celebrated disruptive technologies and business models.
Right at the beginning, Swiss Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann contradicted the conference’s slogan with a plea for a strong state. He underlined opportunities of the new technological possibilities and at the same time pointed out that with the fast-changing environment, increasing complexity and new technologies, lifelong learning is becoming a necessity. In the past, young people learned in school almost everything they needed for their later career. Today, the learning process is a continuous one and what was relevant two years ago, might be already outdated today. With digitization and automatization comes the fear of being replaced by robots. As Federal Councilor Schneider-Ammann admitted, he himself would not want to live on a planet with an 85% unemployment rate. He closed his statement by saying that as in every revolution, there might be losers. Therefore, for him, states are not outdated, but needed more than ever.
Mark Thompson, bestseller author and Senior Executive Coach, who worked amongst others for Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, asked how to stay fit in a digital age. In his keynote, he talked about “Productive Paranoia”. This is not a paranoia based on fear or hiding from reality – instead it is the willingness to look at competitors and what they are doing right. Secondly, Thompson pointed out that it is not safe to play it safe anymore, but to take risks and develop a culture of failure. In Switzerland, there is room for improvement and risk-taking. What still is missing is a Swiss culture of failure.
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Carissa Carter, director teaching and learning from Stanford University, was talking about empathy and responsibility and how to solve problems with design thinking. One of the Tesla’s early investors, Nancy Pfund, spoke about responsibility and impact investment. According to her, in the past, many people believed that it would be enough to force change in a society by donating money to political parties and politicians. After the Trump election, many more people recognized that this does not suffice anymore and started committing themselves to a positive change in society.
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Lino Guzzella, President of ETH Zurich and steering committee member of digitalswitzerland, gave a short insight into the challenges that a world leading university with a public mandate is facing in the digital era. Among others, he talked about Artificial Intelligence and told the public that he was asked once, whether an AI would have discovered Newton’s Law of Gravitation. His answer to that is simple: ‘If Newton had AI, he would have done that simply much faster and earlier. Artificial Intelligence is a fantastic development with a huge potential that will be just an additional tool to the capacity of humans. Guzzella sees this as a new dimension of human’s creativity space and is convinced that with bringing artificial and natural intelligence together, we will have a better chance to cope with the big challenges.
digitalswitzerland founder and CEO Ringier, Marc Walder, talked with Hugh Forrest, director South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival and Taavi Kotka, former Chief Information Officer for the Estonian Government, about global innovation hubs. The tiny post-soviet country Estonia has become a leading pioneer in digital governance. For Marc Walder this is the perfect example of how the digital change could be embraced. The panelists further talked about the need to feel the urgency: when the pain is enough, you need to change. Switzerland needs to get this sense of urgency to move forward.
During the panel, Marc Walder announced the date for the second Swiss Digital Day, which will take place on Thursday, 25th October 2018. So, mark this date in your agenda! We are committed to making this unique event even bigger and involve all of the Swiss regions and especially the public. Thus, we would like to hear what you are interested in seeing and experiencing during the Digital Day 2018. What are your questions on digitization? Your opinion is important and valuable to us. If you have any feedback, please write us here.
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Suzanne Di Bianca, Corporate Relations and Chief Philanthropy Officer at Salesforce, inspired with her talk to sign up for the 1:1:1 Pledge. Suzanne pioneered the 1:1:1 Pledge model of integrated corporate philanthropy, which dedicates 1% of Salesforce’s equity, employee time or product back into the community. For Di Bianca, sustainability in business is a must. It is not only about taking and taking from customers, but to give something back. The future belongs to the value-driven companies.
‘Technology is helping to enforce boundaries and at the same time makes them less strong’
Professor David J. Teece from Berkeley University elaborated on the conference’s prediction, ‘the end of nation.’ His conclusion to the question is that if we look back in history, we can assert that companies are way more fragile than nations. In general, the trend in international business has become that more and more companies are stateless and competition between states have increased. There is more complexity, competition and a deep uncertainty. Teece advise to handle uncertainty: what really matters is instinct and the need to align agility and strategy.
As the topic of the conference implied and what is observable on a global scale, tech companies are becoming powerful, even more powerful than certain states. Technology is disrupting business, politics and challenging state authorities. The question is how to realize the full potential of digitization and how to cushion its negative outcomes. To solve those big questions and problems, innovative and smart thinkers are needed and still: the nation state. With all these promising progresses and exciting perspectives ahead, we should not forget that we are still living in a physical and not digital world and in the end, what really counts is how we can use technologies to the advantages of not only a few, but to include everyone.
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