Our
Vision

To be a fearlessly digital city/state that has embraced revolutionary and innovative technology to grow and diversify our economy, connect our people, accelerate our learning, and nurture our culture and community.


grow and diversify
our economy, connect our people, accelerate our learning, and nurture our culture and community.

Purpose

The purpose of the Digital Strategy is to clearly express the ACT Government’s intentions and create the impetus and architecture for fully digitised services and technology platform renovation. Collectively, as the ACT Government and Public Service, we must renew our vision and approach to technology. We must create an enthusiasm for digital service delivery that makes our citizens more demanding, our staff fully engaged with digital service delivery, and feed an economy that thrives on the energy of innovation and acceleration.

This Strategy will be a cornerstone of conversations. It will be a digital waypoint. It will be a point of cohesion—and it will disrupt complacent thoughts.

It cannot answer all the questions—and in fact it will add questions. But it will bring cohesion—through a common purpose, language and perspective.

Technology is fast‑paced and compelling. This strategy provides a perspective at a point in time that will allow the ACT Government to engage with citizens and staff, business and academia, to stand behind a common vision to capitalise on the opportunities of the digital age.

Scope

This Strategy sets direction for the Digital agenda. It is not a detailed action plan—although many actions will be informed and guided by it. The scope is deliberately at a whole of government level to lay foundations and set direction rather than endeavouring to be a digital master plan. Those individual plans will be enacted across the individual directorates, to meet the objectives set by their respective Ministers.

This Strategy is a natural progression beyond the Digital Canberra Action Plan. As a touchstone for the broader directorate strategies, it will guide other initiatives including the Digital Canberra Action Plan’s Smart City implementation. With Digital as a key plank in all of these, there will inevitably be overlaps. But each should be seen as reinforcing the common goals. This strategy will link the various activities with the common thread that is Digital.

The Strategy covers a period of three years. This is sufficient time to gain organisational momentum—but not so long as to risk losing relevance in this fast changing environment.

CONTEXT

The ACT is already well regarded as a centre for Digital thinking and innovation. It has very active communities in start‑ups, businesses, research institutions and tertiary circles. The Territory Government contributes at all levels and has driven a strong Digital agenda with initiatives from the Digital Canberra Challenge to the Smart Parking trials. In short, the government is committed to growing the digital economy and creating benefits for citizens.

The ACT is a single level jurisdiction. This has provided a platform for legislative innovation. For example, we were the first Capital in the world to have ride‑sharing legislation in place. Within the Public Service itself, digital services have been rapidly emerging through individual initiatives. The Education Directorate has rolled out the Digital Backpack for students; the Building Consent process is online and paperless.

And Access Canberra, through a service framework established in 2014, has brought a new face to government services through the integration of customer‑centred face‑to‑face service centres with a rapidly increasing menu of fully digital services.

This Strategy is launched from the strength of all these initiatives. It will build foundations on which to build stronger and further. It will bring cohesion and it will help us build digital culture and capability in unison.

The ACT is well positioned to leverage its strengths in continuing its digital journey. As a small and relatively young city/state, we have the potential to be agile in our response to emerging needs and innovative opportunities. Collaboration across the ecosystem can deliver big impact. Of course, such benefits are not without their constraints. With a smaller regional population the opportunity to benefit from economies‑of‑scale is reduced and so our Public Service must be resourceful, efficient and innovative to ensure we can deliver a full set of services for our citizens.

What is Digital?

“Digital” is a term that has captured people’s imagination on a global scale. It simply resonates with an intuitive understanding that something has changed. This popularisation of digital in our language has also created a diversity of meaning. For the purpose of this document, the following definition has been adopted.

Digital describes a new way of doing things. Deliberately challenging and disruptive of conventional practice, it is the use of technology to effect radical change. It is about innovation, creating value, ‘in real time’, removing unnecessary costs and activities. It places high value on the creation and use of data. But more than anything—and more than ever before, it places the customer at the centre of its vision.

Edison said “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”. The digital innovations that often characterise our perception of ‘Digital’ are often inspiring in their simplicity—that is the one percent. This strategy necessarily includes the ninety-nine percent “perspiration” that builds our systems of record, business processes and information wealth. It is these supporting roles that give Digital stamina and sustainability.

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