Digital Canberra

The city of Canberra has announced its action plan for becoming a leading digital city. The Action Plan, which will be implemented using a staged approach over four years (2014-2018), sets out initiatives for Canberra to accelerate the development of a high growth digital economy. This will assist Government to better engage with citizens, be more open and transparent and deliver services more efficiently to meet the needs of the community.

The Action Plan focuses our efforts on accelerating the digital revolution around five key areas:

• Smart City ‘“ enhancing our sense of place and access via free public Wi-Fi, digital arts, a vibrant CBD and digital spaces.
• Digital Economy ‘“ accelerating our digital economy to strengthen the workforce, boost productivity, build ICT capacity and facilitate collaboration.
• Connected Community ‘“ new ways of engaging with democracy and participating in civil society through social media, more flexible working arrangements and social inclusion.
• Open Government ‘“ unleashing the economic power of big data, transforming health and education services, delivering information how people want it.
• Digital Services ‘“ faster more efficient digital services, delivered to citizens as they live, work, learn and play, improving efficiency and creating a digital government.

The Action Plan as a priority government initiative will promote Canberra as a city of digital opportunity, create digital networks and partnerships, accelerate the digital economy, build a city of innovation and connected communities, support open government, citizen engagement and better services. For this, it focuses on eight guiding principles, which are the following:

• PARTNERSHIP  ‘“ collaborate with small business and community to provide a test site for pilot digital programs.
• PROMOTION  ‘“ advocacy and communication of the benefits of a digital economy to small business and non-profit organisations.
• NETWORKED  ‘“ build ICT capacity to accelerate economic transformation, boost exports and optimise the use of digital economy tools. Facilitate collaboration and connect people and organisations outside sector silos.
• LEADERSHIP  ‘“ be an exemplar in the use of technology to facilitate open government, encourage demand driven engagement and embrace new engagement models – such as the use of video and crowd sourcing.
• OPEN DATA  ‘“ to better connect and inform citizens, businesses and organisations, create transparency to harness the economic potential of big data, including increased efficiency and convenience, new offerings and better products for consumers.
• SOCIAL INCLUSION  ‘“ work to address the digital divide by providing regular and effective access to digital technology, training and learning spaces. Provide and facilitate a range of personalised mobile and digital channels for service delivery including health and disability care.
• INNOVATION  ‘“ promote the establishment of new entrepreneurial digital start-ups and improve how ACT Government does business.
• PEFORMANCE  ‘“ measure and track the growth in the ACT’ s digital economy and change in digital usage over the four years of the Action Plan, to help drive innovation and growth.

Source: ACT Government,  Digital Canberra: A Leading Digital City, Action Plan 2014-2018