A Recap of the KommITs Conference
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By Laura Gonzales I had the opportunity in May to represent GMIS International at the KommITs conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, which is a conference focused on school and local government. The conference was focused on digital government.
It was interesting how similar the challenges faced by my Swedish counterparts were to those we face in the United States. I have known for years that Sweden is ahead of the U.S. in fiber infrastructure; however, I assumed that was across all parts of the country and in the government. In reality, local governments are struggling in the rural areas. They are starting to look at how to create cooperatives to meet these needs. One item of note, according a presentations by Darja Isaksson, the U.S. is actually ahead in providing government services and information online.
Another key initiative that was discussed in sessions and at the round tables were the requirements for universal smart cards in the EU to allow people to have all information they need available for any government services. Imagine having a card per person in your family to access health care, education and any other government services. The security needs alone are daunting. I wish our fellow LOLA members the best of luck as the move forward with these initiatives, and I look forward to hearing about the solutions.
International participants were from Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States. We had an amazing translator who helped all the international attendees tremendously!
