The 14th edition of the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance – ICEGOV 2021 – focuses on Smart Digital Governance for Global Sustainability in a challenging social, political, economic, and environmental world. For over half a century, digital governance, or the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in public administration and society, has allowed governments to change how they make decisions, engage with stakeholders, operate, produce, and provide public services. The opportunities of digital governance have been emphasised by past and current crisis, as a way to manage pandemic, economic and environmental emergencies and recovery, but also to address social and political challenges faced in a rapidly changing world.
ICT has a unique transformation potential by allowing the ubiquitous interconnection of citizens and businesses with public sector systems. The increasingly rapid advancements in digital governance and the innovative transformation of service provision to fully automated and proactive, seamless processes have been joined by collaborative governance approaches using open data and electronic forms of participation. Community awareness systems are becoming mainstream in many parts of the world, including in developing countries, with many authorities and communities already establishing innovative approaches to better socio-economic decision-making. Simultaneously, they are processing vast amounts of data, simulating social experiments, and assessing policy impact.
To do so, traditional ICTs are no longer solely used, with emerging and highly disruptive technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Blockchain, Internet of Things, among others, starting to take place. Still, the potential of technology to eliminate or amplify existing differences and inequalities between developed and emerging economies, and between and within regions, are increasingly evident. ICEGOV 2021 aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the potential approaches and solutions to address the challenges mentioned above and differences, not least in light of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, by exploiting the continuously increasing capabilities offered by digital technologies.