digibyte - White House CTO holds up the UK as an exemplar for digital government
- Summary:
- Megan Smith, whom previously held a role at Google, also held up the UK as an exemplar for how digital should be used across government.
It's not often we hear the United States talking about the UK as a leader in technology, given the dominance of Silicon Valley. However, White House CTO Megan Smith has this week said that the US is years behind the UK when it comes to digital tech in government.
Smith also urged the US technology industry to “show up” for its government, according to Wired. Smith herself left the luxury of a job at Google to take up the role of Chief Technology Officer at the White House and is obviously now hoping that other execs from Silicon Valley will do the same.
Whether or not those working in the Silicon Valley bubble, which is renowned for its fast-paced innovation and free flowing capital, will see the benefits of swapping for a challenging role in government, remains to be seen.
However, President Barack Obama also recently hired former Google and Twitter exec Jason Goldman as the White House's Chief Digital Officer, suggesting there may be enough talent available to pull in a few good hires from the private sector. This is also a model that has been deployed in the UK, which has seen digital leaders in government actively recruiting from technology companies in the UK and abroad.
Speaking at the Building the Business of Civic Tech conference in New York City, Smith said:
Government is only what we make of it. If we show up, it'll include our skills.
Smith believes that it is possible to catch up with the UK, but has some way to go given that the British government is already five years into a huge digital transformation programme. Not only is the UK leading the world in areas such as open data, but it has introduced innovative new procurement models with things like the G-Cloud framework.
The UK is now at a point where it is talking about creating government-as-a-platform – which involves creating and reusing common services across the public sector – and is often held up as the 'gold standard' approach to technology in government.My take
As a Brit, it is great to hear the White House talking about the work being done in the UK. It goes to show the importance of the Government Digital Service and how far it has come since it was just a concept within the Cabinet Office.
With regard to Smith's hopes of hiring tech talent, I'm fairly optimistic about this. There's enough talent in Silicon Valley for the White House to attract some attention in government. And if the UK is anything to go by, some people won't just be looking for a huge pay cheque – they will be looking for a challenge and for the opportunity to do something good for their country.