Matt Cooperrider's blog

Collabforge Director and founder, Dr. Mark Elliott, was recently invited to present at the United Nations Public Service Summit in Barcelona, Spain. The summit focused on the role played by the public service in achieving the U.N.'s 'Millennium Development Goals'. Dr. Elliott was asked to share some of the challenges and best practice approaches developed round Government 2.0 initiatives in Australia.

"Most people don't think of Australia when asked about cutting edge examples of Web 2.0 in Government. But in fact, the U.S. and increasingly Europe are looking Down Under for case studies on how to increase citizen participation in government. There are just so many great initiatives to showcase. There's the City of Melbourne's Future Melbourne, Parks Victoria's wePlan, the Gov 2.0 Taskforce activities, the Victorian Department of Justice's innovative work, and, the collaborative activities by the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. These are all considered ground-breaking by international standards" -- Dr. Mark Elliott.

The U.N summit provided a perfect opportunity for Collabforge to showcase not only Australia's leadership in the Gov 2.0 space, but to also influence activities on the global level. Recommendations will be developed based on the ideas presented and debated by each of the speakers. These will then inform future U.N. decisions on how to improve public administration institutions, processes and practices in the fast-evolving digital era.

We'll be sure to publish an update here once the U.N. recommendations are announced. And feel free to comment here if you have any questions or would like more information about the event.