Government 2.0- Let’s get on with it! – Ben Verwaayen

Ben Verwaayen is guest blogging for the Forum. He is CEO of Alcatel-Lucent and a Member of the World Economic Forum Foundation Board. He will attending the Annual Meeting in Davos. You can follow his updates @Alcatel_Lucent.

Government 2.0 – What a promise, what an opportunity.

Using social networking, modern tools, more effective delivery capabilities in order to….to do what? To better deliver Government 1.0?

So, basicly to remain the philosophy of the government as a centralized ' we know best' organization?

Or should we look to what a customer centric approach would mean for governments?

Can we learn from technology that distributed intelligence is much more powerful than centralized mainframes. There we learned that curiousity, combined with disciplined execution makes more progress with less efforts.

Davos is engaging , also in the discussions of next generation government. In my view we need to combine the social and the economic agenda and see technology from thatperspective.Simply using a smart phone to do the same is a waste.

Thus: a new ambition , a new definition of aspiration. We called it the new realities. Not just on the macro level of new balance of power, but also and profoundly in what governments should deliver to a demanding, well informed and connected population.

Generation Y is very critical about what governments can do and deliver.

Rather than trying to stop the inevitable, perhaps it is  a great opportunity to enter a dialogue with the younger people

Power and authority are eroding currencies.  If we don't pay close attention to transparency and openness, we may not be able to transform in way that is helpful to all. Government 2.0 is not an idea for next year, it is upon is right now.