2015 LDC Fellow Evelyn Wareham, General Manager, Customer Insights, Analytics and Research, Statistics New Zealand, has started her study and research, which focuses on innovation. Evelyn will look at strategies and initiatives for unlocking the value of data as a key enabler of state-sector reform, government transparency and economic advantage.
My Fellowship is focused on how to leverage the power of data to enable economic growth and public sector transformation in New Zealand. A recent report published by the Innovation Partnership measured data driven innovation as contributing $2.4 billion or 1.5 per cent of our GDP ? significantly behind neighbouring countries like Australia and Singapore due to lack of uptake by companies. In launching the report, Bill English challenged our commercial sectors to catch up with Australia and also called for government to use data to drive value for customers by transforming public services.
My second day at MIT covered the new normal for organisations, related needs for leadership, and different lenses on organisational change.
Questioning our own confidence and intuition was the unifying theme for my two sessions at MIT Sloan.
Who is more effective at leading a major change initiative: an outsider coming in with fresh ideas and new perspectives? Or an insider who knows the culture and can leverage their networks? The answer at MIT today is neither ... and both.
Today was a vivid combination of psychological, process and practical demonstrations of innovation at MIT. Here are some highlights.
In the latest international Open Data Barometer New Zealand is ranked fourth in the world. The UK is number one and the U.S. number two. Bill English has asked what it would take for us to move up to the top of the rankings?
Civil society is a balancing force to government, in leading change. This is especially true in the US. To explore the dimensions of this element for driving change in Washington DC, I met with consultant Russ Gaskin, advocates at Human Rights Watch International, and open data lobbyists at the Sunlight Foundation.
The startup and entrepreneurial culture of Boston was the focus for my last two days in the US. This was an opportunity to hear about how the innovation thinking that I learnt about at MIT in week one has been put into practice in the private sector (see my previous blog).
The UK public service is in the midst of a process of radical change, with data and technology at the centre as key drivers and enablers.
The UK is ranked number one in the world for its open government data and is now driving hard to reap the benefits for public sector transformation.
The UK's Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood has called for higher public sector use of data to drive:
Imagine its 1995, and someone comes to you and says you need a website. You say why?. Now trillions of dollars of revenue is generated, millions are working in web, billions are using it. All of this was the web of documents. We are now building the web of data this will dwarf the web of documents... Massive computing power has been democratised, meaning we can process data at scale and achieve frightening economies of scale. Citizen science and startups will disrupt traditional business models. One small startup of five people can index a million sensors in real time. The level of disruption seen in the last twenty years is a drop on the ocean compared to whats coming. (Gavin Starks, Open Data Institute)
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