Presentation of the seminar in United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance. "From cables to artificial intelligence, from individualism to ecosystems: Digital Government in Latvia." 15.05.2018 Latvia is a compact and agile country of 2.9 million people, with two important natural resources – wood and innovation minded people – backed-up by a strong ICT capacity. Latvia is amongst the world leaders of internet speed and uptake of mobile internet, and features a rapidly growing ICT sector. Latvia has gone through times of enormous economic growth, making it one of the fastest developing economies in the EU. Apart from a period of ruthless austerity in 2008-2010, when GDP fell by a quarter, the time to grow has returned again. It is evident that every one of these phases have made a specific impact on government and e-Government development. Digital government has been seen as a helpful instrument for recovery, growth, more efficient and effective government work and empowerment of citizens. It has been strategically applied to government efficiency, transparency, citizen participation and availability of public services, and now strategically positioned to expand national competitiveness. Currently, knowledge and information products and services play an important and increasing role in Latvia’s economy.

1. DIGITAL GOVERNMENT IN LATVIA
From cables to Artificial Intelligence,
from individualism to ecosystems
Gatis Ozols
Government Fellow | UNU-EGOV

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Latvia

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Latvia – Facts & Figures
Population
1,94 M
25% Russian
speaking minority
(vary across regions)
Urbanization
67,4%
live in Capital
(but decreasing)~32%
Riga
Population density
31/km2

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Economy, 2017
GDP per capita
27 641 $
EU28 av.- 39 610,9 $
GDP
53.57 billion $
2008 – 2011
GOV sector
employment
-25%
Unemployment 8,7%
GDP growth 2017
4,5% (EU28 - 2,4%)
Inflation 3%
2017

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Export structure of Latvia | Importance of service industry
Services
ICT export
+16% 2016/2017
Fastest growing service sectors:
Construction & ICT
~1/3 of Total
export value
10,5%
18,5%
15,6%
12,8%
35,9%
Main partners
71% EU (Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Sweden)
9% Russia
25%
19,6%
15,1%
Goods
24%

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Governance structure
2 Level
Administration
13
ministries
Parliamentary
republic
• Legislation
central
• Enforcement
central/local
• Services
central/local
Estonia
Lithuania
Russia
Belarus
119
municipalities

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Information Society & eGovernment development

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Internet infrastructure | Among the fastest in EU and OECD
Fibre to premise
(2nd EU, EU28 – 26,8%)
Use internet at home
(EU28 – 86,9%)
Subscr. to high speed
(EU aver. – 44,4%)
Broadband coverage
(EU28 - 98%)
Goals
until 2020
100% broadband
coverage
50% household penetration of Ultra
high speed (100Mbps) internet
93%
85,3%
78,6%
65,9%

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€100M support program for high speed internet
2012
2020
Development of
middle mile
In areas with no
commercial potential
Non-discriminatory
access for ISP
(fixed, TV, 4G)

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eGovernment | Mobile mainstreaming
• Unlimited data plans from € 9,90
• 4G alternative to fixed (esp. rural)
Fixed decreases
and 4G becomes
an alternative esp.
in rural areas
• 4 Mobile operators

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Historical development stages of Digital government
2005
Building base registers
and conceptualizing
Developing e-service
ecosystem and service
digitalization
Governance,
partnerships, Data
based innovations
• State IS regulation
• 1st eGovernment program
• 1st Broadband strategy
• eProcurement & Digital
signature conceptions
• Minister of eGovernment
Affairs (2005)
• Mandatory service digitalization
• Qualified signature
• National Portal
• 1st Digital Self Service
• eiD cards implemented
• eGov Ministry reformed
• ICT governance model adopted
2013 2018
• GOV ICT Architecture
• Public service regulation
• CIA position established
• State and municipal
customer service centers
• Open data portal
• Whole of GOV initiatives
- eGov benchmark
- Awareness campaign

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~240
services
digitalized
2 phase | €97M Platforms, Once only, Transparency, Cultural heritage

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Challenges faced
Insufficient uptake of
shared services
Investment duplications
Lack of project coordination
Fragmented process digitalization
Low uptake of digital services
(25% of citizen (EU28 – 33%)
Insufficient data exchange,
esp. with local government

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Strategy and Governance | Elements
Strategy
- Information Society Development Guidelines 2014-2020, Oct 2013
- Concept for Improvement of the Public Service System, Jan 2015
Governance
- ICT governance model, Feb 2013
eGOV Architecture
- eGovernment Conceptual ICT architecture, Mar 2015

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STRATEGY
Information Society Development Guidelines 2014-2020
ICT education
and e-skills
Modern and
efficient public
administration
E-services and
digital content
Cross-border
cooperation for
Digital Single
Market
ICT research
and innovation
Access to the
Internet
Trust and
security
Provide an opportunity for everyone to use ICT, develop an knowledge-based economy
and to improve the overall quality of life & national competitiveness.
Open Data
for growth
(Open Data, APIs)
Rational ICT
management
(Re-use, Sharing)
Effective processes
(Process analysis,
coordination)
E-Government Quality
(Usability, Accessibility,
Security, Quality control)

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Responsible authorities for e-governance
Information society
eGovernment and
State ICT
Public service &
OneStopShop
Ministry of the
Environmental
Protection and
Regional
Development
ICT industry
development
Ministry of
Economics
Networks and
Communications
Ministy of
Transport
National IT
security,
CERT
Ministy of
Defence
HR and
Transparent
Government
State
Chancellery

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ICT GOVERNANCE
Federal Governance model
Information Society Council Prime Minister
National CIO Forum
Government CIO
(VARAM)
MoTransport Parliament rep.
ICT NGO’s
Chambers of
Commerce
ICT
companies
Local GOV rep.
CIO office
(VARAM) Shared Services Agency
Shared Services Agency CIO
Sector ICT unit
Sectorial CIO
Program management
eGOV architecture
Strategy & Policy

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Other high
priority
sectorial
projects
Welfare,
health and
education
E-case–
investigation,
prosecution
& litigation
State
Revenue
Service,
other main
registers
ARCHITECTURE Unified Government ICT Architecture
Multichannel service delivery, Unified data space & Unified data centre
Conceptual Architecture
• Long term vision, principles
Target architecture
Set of ICT solutions to be developed
within current GOV ICT program.
Architecture coordination focus -
production and uptake of shared
components, interagency dependencies
Public Sevices
Multi-channel delivery platform
Data Interoperability and
Open Data / API’s platform
ICT infrastructure platform & services
(shared data centers)
eAccount
&
eDelivery

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Shared digital services platform | Public and private partnership
Identification
Payments
Cross-border gateway
 Case info available (click)

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When governance is in place
Payments module Centralized data exchanges
quarter
2017
• 8,6M authentications
• 1,9M payments (2018 1Q +60%)
• 37,8M data exchange transactions

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PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY
From decentralized delivery to coordinated system
Service formalization
Performance measuring and evaluation
Minimum quality standards Unified Customer Service Centers
Coordination mechanisms
scope: Central and Local government

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Unified State and Municipal Customer Service centres
• Municipal services
• National services (9 instit.)
• Digital service assistance
• Help desk for Portal
Increased service accessibility
Results
Reduced admin. burden €8,2M
Increased digital service uptake
97% clients very satisfied
Efficiency:
first sectoral customer centers
are being closed (replaced)
78 centers

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E Awareness building and training 2015 & 2018
RAISE AWARENESS
ENCOURAGE 1st TRY
UNIFIED IDENTITY
TRAIN DIGITAL AGENTS
(Customer agents, Librarians, Teachers)20152018-2020
 Case info available (1) (click)  Case info available (2) (click)

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Results | High level of service digitalization
500+ Digital Self Services
Digital Tax & Customs Procedures
Electronic Business registration
Apply for social Benefits (child birth, disability)
Car ownership (apply for exams, change owner)
Apply for studies in Universities
100% digital Rural support administration
Cultural heritage collections
Citizen initiatives and referendum initiation

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Results | Uptake of online services
LV EU (28)
Online purchases 55,4% 67,6%
Use of online banking 75,2% 61,4%
Interact with government 83,2% 57,4%
46,8%
35,4%
User satisfaction 8,3

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DATA DEMOCRATIZATION
Open Data value for Latvia 2020
Potential direct market size €70M
Public sector Costs savings €2M
• All ICT projects
must open data
• Sectors to prepare
Data release plans
OPEN BY DEFAULT
Data sets with high
commercialization
financed, not sold
FINANCING MODEL
• Open Data Portal
• Standarts, Licences
& Viualization
TOOLS
• Activists, ICT and
data companies
• Define priorities,
educate
PARTNERSHIPS

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Results
Global Open Data Index 2017
Open Data in Europe 2017
#19 | #31 (2016)
#14 | #31 (2016)

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Data Driven Nation | Multistakeholder initiative
 Case info available (click)

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE in Government service
Automatic Case
processing of speed
cameras
Machine translation,
Speech synthesis and
speech recognition
Virtual assistant in
Enterprise Register
Virtual Assistants Platform
for Public Sector

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EGOV BENCHMARK & AWARD| Latvijas eindekss
• Assess maturity of >100
agencies
• Generates data for policy
(100+ indicators)
• Increases awareness of
policy goals
• Modernization guidance for
agencies
• Profile rising at top
management level
 Case info available (click)

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WAY FORWARD
Way Forward

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PROACTIVE
DELIVERY
HUMAN & MACHINE
INTEGRATION
USER DRIVEN SERVICE
DESIGN, CO-CREATION
PILOTING AND
PROTOTYPING
INNOVATION AS
FUNCTION NEXT LEVEL
PUBLIC SERVICE
tools & approaches
CITIZEN CENTRIC
INTEGRATED PROCESSES

35. Thank you.
Gatis Ozols
ozols@unu.edu
gatis.ozols@varam.gov.lv
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