What do Canada, Estonia, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, Uruguay and the United Kingdom have in common? They form a group known as The D7, and argue that they’re the most advanced digital nations in the world. They exclude a few strong contenders like China and Singapore on the basis of also requiring the members to be committed to open systems and democracy.
The definition of a digitally advanced nation is that government services are delivered online in all areas from administration and security to education and healthcare.
I was the opening speaker at the D7’s recent global conference, in Auckland, NZ. See details of the conference here.
Here are some reflections on my experience at the event:
And here is what I spoke about:
The D7 Nations have decided to commit to working towards the following principles of digital development, acknowledging that they will not be able to meet all of the criteria on joining:
- User needs — the design of public services for the citizen
- Open standards — technology requires interoperability and so a clear commitment to a credible royalty free open standards policy is needed
- Open source — future Government systems, tradecraft, manuals and standards are created as open source and are shareable between members
- Open markets — in government procurement create true competition for companies regardless of size. Encourage and support a start-up culture and promote economic growth through open markets
- Open government (transparency) — be a member of the Open Government Partnership and use open licences to produce and consume open data
- Connectivity — enable an online population through comprehensive and high quality digital infrastructure.
- Teach children to code — commitment to offer children the opportunity to learn to code and build the next generation of skills
- Assisted digital — a commitment to support all its citizens to access digital services
- Commitment to share and learn — all members commit to work together to help solve each other’s issues wherever they can
Click here for a link to their full Charter document.
Keep your eyes on these countries. They’re pushing us all into a better, digital future.