This document discusses the challenges of governance in a complex world and proposes research directions for ICT-enabled governance. It notes that society is increasingly fast-changing while governance remains siloed and linear. This creates a gap between society and governance. It proposes that by 2020, policy-making could involve more collaborative and data-driven approaches utilizing modeling, simulation, and collective intelligence tools. Key research challenges include developing integrated and reusable models simulating large societal phenomena, facilitating collaborative modeling between citizens and groups, and ensuring real-time open government data. The document outlines several European research projects exploring these directions to support more evidence-based and participatory decision-making.

1. ICT solutions for good governance and growth : It is all about decisions …YannisCharalabidisAssistant Professor, University of the AegeanManager, Greek Interoperability CentreXII. BLED FORUM ON EUROPE, Bled 3-4 March 2011

2. The problem: policy-making in a complex worldRising number of tipping points, unpredictable “black swan” events: (financial and economic crisis; terrorist attacks, volcano ash cloud; large scale black-out; climate change)Can’t be adequately addressed by traditional econometric modelsPoliticians are not used to evidence-based decisionsExplosion in authorship, co-creation and collaborationMass collaboration and participationOpen data, open innovation modelsGovernment 2.0More intelligence and more stupidity, more signal and more noise

3. Governance: often silos-based, linear, obscure, hierarchical, over-simplifiedSociety: increasingly interconnected, flexible, fast-evolving, unpredictableThe Problem: Gap between Society and Governance

4. The problem: many technologies needed to deliver on target:Web TechnologiesSystems & Services Technologies“Hard”Public Sector Service Systems Workflow SystemsEnterprise Resource ManagementCloud computingWeb 2.0Argument VisualizationMixed Reality Pattern RecognitionSerious GamesElectronic ParticipationTranslation SystemsSocial NetworksPS Knowledge ManagementLegal Structures ManagementBusiness IntelligenceData & Opinion MiningSimulationForecasting - BackcastingOptimizationSystems DynamicsAdaptive ModelsBehavioral ModellingSocietal ModellingSocial SimulationSocial InformaticsManagement Tools“Soft”SocietyAdministration

5. "The problems that we have created cannot be solved at the level of thinking that created them" Albert EinsteinSo ?

6. A roadmap for ICT-enabled governance research, beyond 2010, to address global challenges: What are the new needed research directions ?

7. How should we team-up among governments, industry and citizens ?

8. When should we expect results ?www.crossroad-eu.net

9. 2020: A Paradigm Shift in Policy-makingMore people involved (collaborative governance)20202010More accurate and analytical, modeling and simulation tools More data available (the data deluge)

10. The Grand Challenges for governancewww.crossroad-eu.net

11. Model-based collaborative governanceResearch challengesIntegrated, composable and reusable models simulating large societal phenomenaInteractive, on-line and open simulation: the “objective function” is constantly evaluated so that action is takenCollaborative modelling: citizens, NGO’s, businesses and administrations together A massive campaign is needed for evidence-based decision making for governments

12. Research challengesData-powered collective intelligence and actionReal-time, high-quality, reusable open government data Privacy-compliant participatory sensing for real-time policy-makingPeer-to-peer public opinion miningIntuitive, collaborative visual analytics of data for policy-makingUser-generated simulation and gaming tools for public actionNew institutional design of collaborative governance

13. CROSSROAD: A collaborative journey …… and a vivid research community

14. Next Steps in ICT-enabled GovernanceAn FP7 research project, utilising social media and widgets to reach citizens and discuss on policy-making through different media and devices and then process interactions through on-line simulation tools to support decisionswww.padgets.eu

15. Next Steps in ICT-enabled GovernanceModel-based governance: A proposal for an IP project (10 M EUR) is under evaluation. Slovenia / Western Balkans is one of the key pilots (climate change and growth)Open Governmental Data: A pan-european research project soon to start for Public Information curation and provision for governance scientists

16. As a conclusionWe need a totally different set of tools for evidence-based decision making by governmentsSocietal Simulation and virtual reality will be the next “big thing” for governments that wish to make a differenceWe need to go beyond pure ICT approaches and embark in a multi-disciplinary journeyWe should not just “do things right”: we should “do the right things”

17. ICT solutions for good governance and growth : It is all about decisions …Stay tuned at:yannisx@aegean.grt-government.blogspot.com