Digital government in Luxembourg

Background

The Ministry for Digitalisation has set itself the objective of successfully implementing a digital government. This involves drawing on developments in the field of new technologies and incorporating them into the procedures and products of the State, in order to offer State services that have been modernised and adapted to the needs and expectations of citizens and companies.

The implementation of the digital government involves approaches that are more participatory, innovative and co-creative, and pursuing objectives that go beyond the electronic management of online public services. Today, the accessibility, security and use – or rather, the integration – of the new technologies into the range of proposed online services are at the heart of the State's digital transition.

Characteristics

A digital government is characterised by digital policies that allow public sector organisations to adopt the strategic use of digital solutions, new technologies and data to ensure they are providing public services that are particularly focused on user experience. A digital government also promotes the use of platforms for co-creation and active public participation between administrations, companies and citizens. The aim of this approach is to involve all the actors concerned so that they can jointly develop digital public services that are centered around their needs. A digital government is transparent, digital by default and secure.

Furthermore, the implementation of the digital government requires the Public Administration to focus on the development of digital skills as well as an enhanced proposal for the continuous training offered to agents of the State. It is also necessary to promote the adoption of norms and standards in order to establish digital government infrastructures and technological solutions that are interoperable and resilient. Finally, in order to successfully implement the digital government strategy, it is essential that the government supports the development and implementation of a data-driven public sector.

In order to support Luxembourg in this transition to a digital government, the Ministry for Digitalisation has commissioned a study on this matter, the "Digital Government Review of Luxembourg", from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The aim of this study is to assess the current state of affairs with regard to the digitalisation of public services in Luxembourg and to formulate strategic recommendations in this regard. The findings of the study will be published at the beginning of 2022.

Key milestones for achieving these objectives

Digital governance

The Council of Government adopted a digital governance strategy in February 2020 to support the transition to a digital government, which affects all the ministries and all the administrations of the State in a cross-divisional manner.

One of the central elements of the digital governance strategy is the creation of an Interministerial Committee for Digitalisation within the Public Administration. Coordinated by the Ministry for Digitalisation and the Government IT Centre, this committee consists of members who oversee digitalisation within their respective ministries. This committee meets regularly to assess the digital projects of the State, to coordinate requests with respect to the needs encountered by the administrations and to establish a common agenda of initiatives that aim to reinforce the digital government in Luxembourg.

National Interoperability Framework

Within the framework of the digital government, it is essential that the Public Administration achieves a higher level of interoperability – which means improving the capability of a service to interact with, communicate with and exchange information with another service. To this end, following the adoption by the Council of Government of the National Interoperability Framework (NIF), the Ministry for Digitalisation has worked to implement a cross-divisional and sector-specific governance strategy, which was introduced at the end of 2020. This NIF governance also covers the creation of a Competence Centre for IOP (interoperability).

Interministerial working group for digital inclusion

Finally, another crucial milestone is making digital solutions accessible to every individual and providing them with the skills that will be key to their digital inclusion. In order to meet this commitment, an interministerial working group has been created, made up of representatives from all the individual ministries. It will propose initiatives that facilitate the inclusion of all citizens in the process of digital transformation and therefore counteract a potential digital divide.

Integration of new technologies

New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain hold considerable potential in the context of progressing towards a digital government. Indeed, in order to successfully achieve the digital transformation of the State, new technologies must be fully implemented into the initial design of public services that are more innovative, personalised and simpler to use, as well as into the development of administrative procedures that are focused on users' needs.

Data-driven public sector

The digital government is highly data-driven in the sense that it uses and reuses data in order to allow administrations to better understand the needs of citizens, companies and the administrations themselves, for the purposes of developing and improving public services and facilitating internal procedures. Using data appropriately, requires the creation of a concrete framework for management, sharing and reuse of data that also meets the relevant security and confidentiality requirements.

Therefore, it is essential to create a framework for the reuse of data generated by new technologies, which forms the basis for designing new public services. A digital government needs to take full advantage of new technologies and data to develop innovative public services and new approaches, in order to create added value in terms of time savings and to ensure the ease of use for citizens and companies alike.