Digital Government Exchange (DGX) Reports

What is the DGX?

The Digital Government Exchange (DGX) is an annual global gathering of Government Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and public sector leaders from digital governments and smart cities. These include Australia, the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Canada, China (Shanghai), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK) and the U.S (New York). Organised by the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group since 2016, DGX is a one-of-its-kind international platform that has developed a community of like-minded leaders who can engage in information exchange, sharing of experiences, and mutual learning, while exploring future collaboration opportunities. Representatives from multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the World Bank also attend these discussions.

DGX Working Groups

The platform also features technical Working Groups (WGs) where countries and cities deep dive into specific subject matters pertinent to governments’ drive for digitalisation. Designed with the intent of providing an open conversation yearly, the DGX WGs bring together international experts in their respective fields to conduct in-depth analysis. The 2021 edition saw representatives share experiences and opportunities on the topics of Cloud, Digital identity, Data governance, and Digital maturity.

• The cloud WG dwelled on the momentous shift in the delivery of private/public information systems, where a new service delivery model provides benefits including agility and velocity, innovation, digital transformation, scalability, resiliency, cost-savings, data security, and transparency. Policy approaches and technology strategies were shared on risk management with cloud adoption.

• The data governance WG focused on key trends in data governance policies, data governance regulations, and data organisational structures in supporting member countries’ broader big data ambitions. The WG also produced valuable insights on data stewardship and how process, people, and technology are key enablers of data governance.

• The digital identity WG produced insights on how countries utilise digital identity and models that might enable mutual recognition and/or interoperability. Given the pandemic, information was shared openly on respective governments’ experiences with leveraging digital ID for appropriate COVID-19 responses.

• The digital maturity WG developed a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) framework for understanding different levels of digital maturity and conducted research interviews with member countries to validate the 7 elements of digital maturity in reimagining and redesigning governments’ digital estate. These elements are user-centred design, culture of digital by design, data-driven approach, appropriate technology and infrastructure, senior leadership buy-in and appropriate governance, appropriate institutional funding and capacity, and digital capability.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, a special edition of the Digital Government Exchange Safe Travel Working Group was convened in 2021. Digital governments and smart cities discussed safe travel solutions such as the generation of digital health certificates, cross-border verification, and open-sourced technical specifications or frameworks. These insights have been published on the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Public Institutions blog.

DGX Working Group Reports

Our working groups have produced in depth reports studying various digital government topics across the years as shown below.

DGX WGs 2021

• Cloud governance by the DGX Cloud Working Group
• “Digital Identity in response to COVID-19” by the DGX Digital Identity Working Group
• Digitial Maturity Minimum Viable Product (MVP) framework by the DGX Digital Identity Working Group

Feel free to contact us at tmo@tech.gov.sg for more information.