What is e-governance? To put it simply, it’s an opportunity to get public services online. E-governance makes it possible not only to enroll children in school and apply for tax deduction from home, but also helps to obtain relevant information that allows you to more efficiently spend the state’s resources in various industries. For example, if the public transport timetable is publically available, it can significantly simplify the organization of this public service, and thus reduce the government’s expenses. E-governance promotes e-democracy (e-participation), that is, including citizens in governance. Experts in the field of e-government, open data, open society, e-participation, smart technology, gathered at ITMO to discuss these issues and problems.

There were a number of international guests at the conference who presented their work in the field of e-governance and e-participation. A scientist from Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Slim Turki, talked about how open data ecosystems are stimulated. Scientists from Stockholm University, Karin Hansson and Love Ekenberg, gave a lecture on the value and role of social networks in crisis situations. Specialists from the Institute of Technology in Nagoya (Japan), Masaru Watanabe, Shun Shiramatsu and Yasuaki Goto shared the results of their research in the field of public collaboration in solving social problems.

The IFIP EGOV-EPART and EGOSE conference ended on September 6. You can read about the conference in more detail here.