News
Digital government 100 named
Posted on 9th August 2018
World-wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, Doteveryone founder Martha Lane Fox, London chief digital officer Theo Blackwell and health secretary Matt Hancock are among the UK innovators named on Apolitical’s ‘100 most influential people in digital government’ list.
Apolitical – a peer-to-peer govtech platform connecting ideas for innovation worldwide – says its 100 list is “the first of its kind to show the international spread of the field, and includes individuals from every continent”.
Others from the UK on the global list include: Public Digital founder and ex-Government Digital Service chief Mike Bracken, his GDS successor Kevin Cunnington, One Team Government founder Kit Collingwood, Open Data Institute chief executive Jeni Tennison, MySociety founder Tom Steinberg, UK government director of design and service standards Lou Downe, Surrey Business School professor Alan Brown and Nesta director of government innovation Eddie Copeland.
Notable international names include Francesca Bria, chief technology officer for Barcelona, Ghanaian president Nana Afuko-Addo and Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
“Digital technologies are transforming nearly every aspect of our lives, including, increasingly, our governments. In every country and at every level of government, public servants and ministers are having to work out how to reform and reimagine government for the digital era,” says Apolitical.
The list is broken up into a top 20, national government, politicians, local/regional government, academia, business, international organisations and non-profits.
There are 60 men and 40 women on the list.
Other countries appearing on the list are India, Estonia, Denmark, Mexico, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Chile, Sweden, USA, Colombia, Singapore, Finland, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Kenya, Netherlands, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, France, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Germany, Greece and Nigeria.
Apolitical adds that “digital government is, of course, no longer brand new. A first generation of reformers has been followed by a new one, who are building on their predecessors’ learnings. Because of this, we have concentrated on celebrating those currently working in or on digital government, rather than some of the pioneers who cut the first path through the analog undergrowth.”
Apolitical drew on nominations from over 100 expert contributors, including digital government experts, academics and public servants – and says the list includes both well-known leaders and “unsung heroes who are are quietly and tenaciously updating the machinery of government”.
The final 100 selection was reviewed by independent experts around the world.
If you think someone’s missing from the Apolitical top 100, you can nominate them now for next year’s list, by emailing [email protected].
