From Digital Public Infrastructure to Democratic Public Infrastructure

All over the world, governments are implementing what is commonly referred to as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), which are fundamental digital systems to enable improved delivery of social services, facilitate data exchange, and foster economic growth.

DPI initiatives across the world have led to many benefits to citizens, such as being able to access vital services like social payments and healthcare without the need to queue for hours at government offices.

But can, and should, DPI go beyond better service delivery, to provide opportunities for citizens to fully participate in their democracies?

And are there examples of DPI systems integrating with existing civic tech tools for democratic transparency and participation?

Imagine a world where every citizen automatically receives the government grants they’re entitled to, stays informed about public consultations, and can easily contribute feedback—feedback that they trust will genuinely shape policy decisions. Services like these could strengthen and transform democracies worldwide.

But, should this be the reality we ought to seek? What are the opportunities and challenges? And how close are we to achieving this?

Join us at this TICTeC event by mySociety to explore these questions, possibilities, challenges and more.

We’ll be joined by the following speakers/panellists:

Richard Gevers, Head of Service Design and Delivery at the Digital Services Unit of The Presidency South Africa. Richard will share his work implementing DPI at the national level, as well his thoughts on DPI’s relationship to democratic participation.

Sanna-Kaisa Saloranta, Specialist in the Democratic Innovations programme at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. Sanna-Kaisa will share Sitras’ work on local and national level citizen participation projects, and their ideas for scaling up participatory democracy.

Tiago Peixoto, Senior Public Sector Specialist and Digital Government Coordinator for the EU and Western Balkans at the World Bank. Tiago will talk about recent World Bank research on DPI, and its integration with civic tech, as part of a practical review of the potential for emerging technologies to positively impact on the social contract between citizens and state.

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay