What Are the Govtech Dynamics?

If after reading the first article you have asked yourself: How do I get this off my turf? Here we hope to give you some clues about the dynamics that must emerge to articulate a govtech ecosystem.

In the previous article we explained that institutions (buyer) and digital startups and SMEs (offer) cannot be found and why. The first step to finding them is, on the one hand, to encourage an appetite for these new digital solutions, that is, promote demand policies. On the other hand, betting and helping these emerging companies to grow, that is, actions that impact the provision of govtech solutions. There are a multitude of policies, tools and regulations that we can develop to boost the demand and supply of these types of solutions. If you stay with us, we'll tell you how in the next articles.

Before going into each of the actions and strategies that we can implement to articulate a govtech ecosystem, we want to explain to you what dynamics and ingredients we find in the govtech ecosystems of the territories that are already being promoted by different institutions around the world.

First of all, we need a Entrepreneurial Government that goes beyond traditional answers and dare to define good problems and communicate them openly. And once the needs have been identified, I want to look for new solutions and experiment to test if they work or not and learn to rethink the service. Because, and this is important, not all digital products are going to solve AAPP problems. That is why the culture of problem definition and experimentation is important for learning and making informed decisions.

Second, in order to be able to provide innovative solutions on the supply side, we need a ecosystem that vibrates with startups, scale-ups and digital SMEs that seek to generate public value. But man does not live on enthusiasm alone: For people to dare to create a digital company, talent (universities), support and mentoring (incubators and accelerators) and capital (investors) are required.

But we return to the difficult task of meeting and, above all, of establishing a business relationship. To break with the barriers that we tell you in the previous article, you have to innovate in the culture of public procurement. That does not mean entering into the odyssey of changing the current contracting framework, nor does it need to be. Within the same Contract Law, we can design a public tender that does not scare away this type of supplier. In fact, we have already found examples in different Spanish institutions or public companies such as Renfe or the Mint and Stamp Factory that are successfully starting to innovate in public procurement - we will soon tell you how 😉 - and are achieving buy the best solutions in an agile, efficient way and generating an open and competitive market of competitors.

But how do we achieve entrepreneurial governance?

Entrepreneurial governance is not born overnight and surely we are closer than it seems. In fact, the current path of digital transformation to which all the AAPPs have joined gives us the necessary ingredients, we just have to energize them and make sure that they work in a connected way and in the same direction:

• As with any transformation, we need a public leadership and strategy to put govtech on the political agenda. The current European guidelines on digital transformation already cover this area and it is surely closely related to many of the digital strategies at the national, regional and municipal levels. Therefore, govtech is an instrument for complying with these strategies. From there, we need public policies and regulations that they materialize it.
• The data says they are the fuel of the 21st century. It is true that as the authors point out in their book Digital Era Governance. IT Corporations, The State and e-Government and Fernando Fernandez-Monge summarizes in his article [link], the good use and The development of an organization's data and digital infrastructure can be a major determinant of success or failure to implement public services.
• Finally, in the face of so much technological progress, we also need to update the knowledge and abilities of the people who work in AAPPs. And we're not just talking about digital capabilities, but also those focused on new ways of working and human-centered design.

We know that it may seem like a lot, but at Gobe we recommend starting to work on small projects that help to make visible the potential of the govtech space and begin by awakening the demand of institutions for these new solutions based on the needs of the institution.

You don't need a big budget either. As we have said, surely in each institution there are already projects, levers or instruments that can be used to push the govtech ecosystem.

In the next articles we will be sharing pills about how we work the govtech ecosystem and that we are sure they can inspire you.