While it has been a busy week and will continue on for a few more days now, it has been amazing in terms of gaining insight.
I had the pleasure of speaking at the IntellectUK Cloud event in london early in the week. Then the honor of speaking at the New York Stock Exchange mid-week. Followed on by an incredible CityCamp in London put on by FutureGov. I am about to board a flight to Korea for the T.20 Login Tourism Event (The equivalent of the G20 for Tourism Ministers).
The reason I want to push my schedule out more to folks is the potential for me to act as a connector for different but vital communities involved in pushing for open government data initiatives and Government 2.0 in general. As many of you know, I am obsessed with sustainability of the current change momentum in governments worldwide and I think we are in the midst of a very positive shift that I want to help push forward through the simple act of connecting people and institutions across the globe.
Each of the events I have spoken at in the past week or so are instrumental to success. There were several industry insiders, small business owners, academics, influentials and the like at the Intellect Cloud event. They will drive investment in the industry to support open government issues. At the NYSE I had the pleasure of lunch with the head of the State’s Public Service Commission as well as the CEO of ConEdison a key utility company n the States in order to discuss their potential involvement in providing governmental cloud services. Also there were competitors and partners alike (both in New York and London). From AMD to HP to SalesForce.com the industry is paying attention to governments like never before. And then, the Citycamp in London was amazing and took the open government mantra to the masses of individuals, NGOs, IGOs and government heavyweights who can really make things happen (CivcTec, LinkedGov, NHS, DWP and more and more). These were the people emboldened to make all this change happen (not the easy part).
So, I finish up this extended week speaking to Ministers in Korea. This is clearly an event targeted at informing political and policy decision makers from around the world. The key is to close the loop, make the circle complete. I aspire to take the messages of all the preceding conversations into the T20 Conference so that the political leaders understand what citizens want, and industry needs, and government workers have to have and academics are asking for.
This is a potential virtuous cycle for me and others like me. I repeat this loop most months and have the opportunity often. For the movement to be successful we need to ensure that we keep the oxygen moving, which is information. What is working out there, what is not. Who is winning and can they share. Who is seeing roadblocks and what are they? What political wins have happened as a result. What investments are needed from industry and what investments should be targeted by political elites? What should academics be analyzing and analysts paying close attention to?
You will see me at multiple events, and, of course, am always available on twitter, Facebook and this blog. But more important, broadcast your insights so that the community at large can benefit and I can pick it up. I will keep posting events scheduled and happy to discuss with folks as they have insight. Citycamps are upcoming in Boston and Barcelona. We have GovCamps coming up in Portugal, Brazil, India, Singapore, Russia and the US.
The movement is certainly afoot, but we need to keep the circulation of ideas moving.
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