As digital technologies reshape everyday life, urban and rural municipalities have an opportunity -- and an imperative -- to harness digital tools to transform the way they deliver services, collaborate with citizens and stakeholders, and facilitate job creation and economic opportunity. Anthony D. Williams, president and co-founder of the DEEP Centre, explains how both large urban centers and rural communities can reap the benefits of the digital revolution while preparing for the profound disruptions occurring in labor markets around the world.

1. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Rebooting the Public Square:
Digital Innovation for Urban and
Rural Municipalities
Anthony D. Williams
President and Co-founder
DEEP Centre

2. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
A global explosion of world-class digital services

3. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
World-changing technologies foster disruption & innovation

4. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
The evolution of mobile computing

5. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Billions of end points and Earth's central nervous system

6. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Billions of dollars flowing into robots and artificial intelligence

7. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Economic and technological change disrupting labour markets
Autonomous vehicles Artificial intelligence
• Labor market analysts and technologists
are largely in agreement that robotics and
artificial intelligence will permeate wide
segments of daily life by 2025.
• Many experts envision a future in which
robots and digital agents have displaced
significant numbers of both blue- and
white-collar workers.
• Others predict that human ingenuity will
create new jobs, industries and ways to
make a living, just as it has been doing
since the dawn of the Industrial
Revolution.
Automated factories 3D Printing

8. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Digital Innovation:
How Leading Organizations
are Harnessing the Digital
Revolution to Further the
Public Good

9. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Pediatricians in 120 countries advancing medical knowledge

10. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
1.1 million citizen scientists helping to map the universe

11. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Global network of forest watchers monitoring the world’s forest

12. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Rule #1
• Digital innovation is about transforming systems and processes – it’s less about shiny new
technologies than about dismantling or traversing traditional silos that inhibit collaboration

13. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
• Digital innovation does not require a large budget, a huge team, or a complex governance
structure – many leaders are operating on a shoe-string, but leverage enormous talent pools
Rule #2

14. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
• Digital innovation does require taking risks, fast failure and agile development processes that
lead to continuous improvement in products and services
Rule #3

15. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
• Digital leaders design for participation – they build products and services that invite
participation by end-users and they share their most valuable assets with key stakeholders
Rule #4

16. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
• Digital leaders give innovators permission to innovate – they encourage experimentation and
create time, funding and space to pursue innovative projects
Rule #5

17. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
• Digital leaders have overcome organizational and disciplinary barriers – in each case
significant cultural taboos were systematically challenged
Rule #6

18. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
• Digital innovation is constant and requires a strong organizational commitment – results are
commensurate with the level of commitment dedicated to maximizing the benefits
Rule #7

19. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Transforming Government:
Opportunities and Next
Steps for Municipalities

20. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Opportunities to transform the functions of government
PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY
REGULATION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
OPEN GOVERNMENT AND CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
POLICY AND EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION-MAKING
Provider

21. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Easier for Citizens
• “One-window” to the information
citizens want through ontario.ca
• Services designed around citizens;
simple, convenient, integrated
access to online services “24/7, on
any device”
• Secure access to the next
generation of online services via a
single digital identity
A 21st Century Workplace
• More innovation, productivity and
workforce satisfaction
• Equips workers with the technology
and training they need
• Attracts new digital talent into
government
Better for Businesses,
NGOs and Media
• More useful, consistent
communications about what
government is doing
• Helps reduce regulatory
processes and red tape
• Single business account to
provide an integrated view
Lower Cost, Higher Efficiency
• Less manual processing and paper
shuffling
• Shifts customers to lower-cost
online channels
• Less reliance on external vendors
and expensive proprietary solutions
• Creates new revenue opportunities
More Effective Government
• Better data and data sharing to
support evidence-based
decision-making
• More horizontal and agile I&IT
systems
• Collaborating across silos and
jurisdictions
Digital government
unlocks many benefits
Digital dividends for citizens and stakeholders

22. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Digital Leadership in New York City
Rachael Haot, CDO, New York City

23. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Multi-faceted strategy accelerates digital inclusion

24. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Local crowdsourcing helps NYC reinvent its interface to citizens

25. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Thousands of “Made in NYC” tech start-ups

26. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Participatory budgeting lets citizens direct spending decisions

27. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Singapore’s eCitizen platform for citizen engagement

28. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Return to Rural program uses technology to attract residents
“Technology is changing
everything. Even in small
town Alberta. We used to
be a place that young
people ran away from.
Now we’re home to a new
breed of techno cowboys
and wired entrepreneurs
that are changing the
landscape for good.”

29. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Farmlogs: digital tools & big data boost agricultural productivity

30. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Food incubators foster economic opportunity in craft foods

31. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Advanced manufacturing labs close the skills gap . . .

32. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
. . . and ignite a new generation of manufacturing start-ups

33. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Transportation informatics and the art of big data analysis

34. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Monitoring roads, intersections, transit and bicycle counts

35. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Environmental sensors monitor roadside air quality

36. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Child care services in your neighbourhood

37. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
Open crime data and community engagement

38. Rebooting the Public Square: Digital Innovation for Urban and Rural Municipalities
1. Prioritize digital innovation with an executive mandate
2. Invest in digital talent and create inter-disciplinary teams fusing policy,
delivery and technology
3. Grant flexibility to rethink/alter current state and experiment
4. Focus first on “minimum viable products” not detailed specifications
and seek early and frequent input from live customers
5. Develop agile sourcing capabilities for digital innovation through open
data, crowdsourcing and labs for co-innovation
6. Work across government to streamline processes and remove barriers
by making rules confirm to modern development practices
7. Collect and analyze performance data and maintain a commitment to
continuous innovation & improvement
Modernizing your municipality’s approach to digital