Chinese e-government in the spotlight

By Jianggan Li | 3 September 2010 | Permanent link | 2 comments

I’ve just finished moderating the first ever FutureGov Summit in China - and over the last three days have had the opportunity to discuss the informatisation of Chinese government, particularly at the municipal government level with officials throughout the country - from Inner Mongolia to Guangdong, from Harbin to Chengdu.

China, as the world’s most populous country, has a lot of local government - and I already knew that there is a wide variety of Chinese e-government models being developed. You might have read my bits about China over the past year in this column. To be honest, FutureGov Summit China is among the ones where we have dedicated most resources to. The reason is simple, we are operating in a new territory where no foreign organisation has had any success – understanding the unique characteristics of China’s massive government modernisation initiative and the challenges government IT planners are facing in the Middle Kingdom is obviously a bit contributing factor.

To achieve that, we have spent more than one year speaking with government officials across the country. While I am also doing other things at the same time, for three colleagues of mine this is their sole project for the past year.

And you’d see that the main issues are not that different from the rest of the world: better citizen service delivery, a government which is more connected, digital cities, information security, cloud computing, and ultimately, better governance. “We are doing the same as most other government are doing, or have done, the difference is with the details,” an official from Shandong told me. “I feel inspired by the presentations here at FutureGov Summit, because we can map the international experience into our context, and ask questions face to face.”

Taiwan again became one of the top stars – in China there is an additional layer to this: Mainland has much more in common with Taiwan than with those who have adopted a Western system of government and governance. Not only they have same language and culture which makes communications easier, there is also a strong sense of “they have done that, so can we” – an extension to the fierce competition between different cities in China, which is one key factor contributing to China’s current dynamism.

Four Mainland officials have registered on the spot to attend our FutureGov Taiwan Forum in November, where they hope to have more in-depth exchange with senior officials from the other side of the Strait. If you are interested as well, feel free to drop me an email and I will see what I can do for you.

I am glad the hard work our China team has put over the past year has been recognised and complimented by the people we try to serve. Overall, the majority of the delegates believe the conference is “refreshing”, “practical”, “enriching” and “excellent”, one senior official from Shenyang told me that he had regretted not having called more of his colleagues and counterparts from other governments in the province to come.

Even a government delegate who had flown in from Bremen in Germany remarked that he was returning home with a “suitcase full of ideas” on improving citizen service workflows.

Also it has provided a valuable platform for government to understand what is out there in the market. “We are inundated by vendor requests for us to attend events,” says another senior official.

“This is the first time I see a platform which allows government to understand technologies and solutions without prejudice. You have provided an excellent bridge between the government and solution providers.”

You might want to ask what that exactly means. Well, China is a big market and everyone knows that – there are literally more than five e-government conferences held each day in the country. However, most of them are too commercial and product-focused for government to sit down and talk calmly about how solutions can be related to their business issues. Event companies often don’t understand the subject matter, therefore they are not able to exercise control to make sure the conference is relevant, and creating ‘win-win’ situations to all those who participate.

Factoring that one government has signed a deal on the stop with a sponsor, and another is considering a 400 site implementation with another vendor, I feel that our sleepless nights and countless conversations are, at the end of the day, being appreciated.

And that’s not the end of it – we are firmly committed to Greater China and the constant endeavour of bringing the global experiences through FutureGov platform. As I count down the days to my own move, from Hong Kong to our new office in Beijing, I now have the next few months mapped out - with a full itinerary of site visits to city administrations the length and breadth of China. And of course, when I am in Beijing, meetings with central government ministries/agencies will dominate my agenda - some of them have already been fixed.

It will certainly make for an interesting homecoming (I’ve lived overseas for almost ten years), and enable me to get reacquainted with developments in the country as I lead the team launching the Chinese edition of FutureGov magazine.