KISDI held the policy forum titled “Digital Innovative Government in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution” on the future governance of electronic government at the Korea Press Center on March 21.

The forum was held to discuss the necessity of a digital innovative government to support the 4th industrial revolution as the global trend, the direction for the restructuring of the future governance of e-government, and the organization for national innovation.

The presenters proposed ways of restructuring e-government governance to promote national innovation based on IT and improve the efficiency of management and operation of information resources owned by the government.
 
Kang Hong-yol, Senior Fellow at KISDI, was the first presenter, talking about the “Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution and Implementation of e-Government” to outline the change of the e-government environment including the 4th industrial revolution and propose a paradigm shift for government innovation. He emphasized the need for the overall redesign of e-government governance including the e-government budget operation and business plan as the informatization level in the government sector has matured and the government cloud has been adopted and spread.

In his presentation titled “Design of Future e-Government Governance to Build a Digital Innovative Government,” Eom Seok-jin, professor at Seoul National University, suggested the innovation direction for the enhancement of e-government governance. Prof. Eom emphasized the need to strengthen the role of the National Computing and Information Service for the more efficient management and operation of the platform function and information resources. He also argued for the improvement of policy competence and qualitative improvement of civil services through the operation of e-government technology and information platforms and the integration, interconnection, and disclosure of government information resources while separating the business innovations of government departments.
 
Lastly, Kwon Heon-young, professor at Korea University, gave a presentation on the “Conception of National Innovation Organization for Digital Innovative Government” to propose the creation of the National Innovation Agency to assist the president and the prime minister directly. Prof. Kwon analyzed the innovative policies of previous administrations and concluded that more government innovation was needed. He emphasized the need for the creation of the National Innovation Agency to manage human resources affairs, organization and administrative management, planning, budgeting, and e-government. According to Prof. Kwon, the National Computing and Information Service can be transformed into the key government resource management center of the National Innovation Agency since it is the key infrastructure for data-based scientific administration.

The presentations on the future governance of digital innovative government and e-government were followed by panel discussion and Q&A moderated by Professor Kim Byong-seob of the Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration. It was participated in by the following: Kim Woo-han, former President of the National Computing and Information Service; Park Seong-ho, Director General of Creative Government Planning at the Ministry of the Interior; Seo Byeong-jo, President of the National Information Society Agency; Ahn Hyeon-sil, Editorial Director at The Korea Economic Daily; and Prof. Chang Suk-gwon at the School of Business of Hanyang University.

The discussion covered topics such as ▲ impact of expansion of cloud as technology platform on the e-government implementation system, ▲ direction and details of internal governance for the innovation of administration, ▲ organizational status of the National Computing and Information Service as the cloud platform, and ▲ role of private sector cloud ecosystem for e-government.

In the future, KISDI intends to establish the details of the plan for the future governance of e-government and conception of digital innovative government by gathering the opinions of the experts participating in the policy forum and the opinions of other experts later.

Contact : Han Eun-young, Associate Fellow of the Department of Postal Service Research, KISDI (043-531-4236)