The government programme presented by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel to the Chamber of Deputies on 11th December 2018 reflects the government's desire to place digitalisation at the heart of its concerns. It is within this dynamic that the Ministry for Digitalisation was created, headed by the Prime Minister, Minister for Digitalisation, Xavier Bettel, and the Deputy Minister for Digitalisation, Marc Hansen.
The Ministry for Digitalisation's remit and missions are defined by the Grand-Ducal Decree establishing the ministries.
Making life easier for citizens and companies
In his statement to the Chamber of Deputies, Xavier Bettel put it as follows: "The reason we have created a new ministry is not only to promote general technological development in areas that are crucial for our economy and to develop new strategies to help our country move forward, but also to improve our daily lives and the various administrative processes. A significant part of the activities of the Ministry for Digitalisation are aimed at making people's lives easier."
Following his appearance before the Committee on Digitalisation, Media and Communications of the Chamber of Deputies, Marc Hansen told the press about his desire to make the Ministry a "facilitator" and a coordinator for ministries and other partners wishing to develop their digital activities.
Opting for open innovation
Whilst addressing the Chamber of Deputies, the Prime Minister and Minister for Digitalisation stressed the government's willingness to continue working towards achieving greater transparency and increased involvement of Luxembourg's citizens.
It is in that spirit that the Ministry for Digitalisation relies on an "open innovation” approach for many of its projects. Open innovation is widely defined as "the deliberate input and output of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation” and is therefore diametrically opposed to a closed innovation process. In fact, the advent of the digital age and the digital revolution of our society have revolutionized our everyday lives. Widespread Internet access is dramatically transforming the relationships between state, citizens and companies thanks to instant and seamless connectivity.
Open innovation is about gathering ideas, skills or innovative technologies from external actors to foster innovation of the public services. This approach has inspired so-called collaborative innovation actions, which involve looking from outside the box for ways to innovate, such as seeking new concepts, technological solutions or qualified counsel.
Making digital government a success
As advocated by international bodies, the Ministry for Digitalisation has set itself the goal of successfully achieving digital government. To achieve this goal, it has set out several high-priority strategic axes:
- Developing eGovernment,
- Advancing administrative reform,
- Promoting digital inclusion,
- Integrating new technologies.