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PUBLIC, a leading European government-focused technology company based in London, England (UK), has released the White Paper: 'Government Technology in an Age of Crisis' which argues that capitalizing on the opportunity provided by best-in-class digital solutions requires European governments to adopt a new relationship with technology.

During 2022 Europe was facing multiple crises including war, rising living costs, overburdened healthcare systems, and a worsening climate crisis. If governments do not take expedited action, there will be serious consequences including food shortages, power outages, increasing hospital backlogs, and widespread disruption and delays. 

While governments have the desire to act, their current tools often limit their effectiveness, caused by poor user-friendliness, lack of interoperability, and failure to utilize the latest innovations. 

To effectively respond to these crises, there is a need for digital solutions that can overcome these challenges. This includes user-friendly interfaces, algorithmically optimized processes, data-driven decision making, interoperability standards, and engagement with innovative GovTech providers. 

PUBLIC believes that it is essential for European governments to adopt a new approach to technology that involves changing the ways of working, empowering public servants with the necessary skills and culture to drive digital transformation, collaborating with top innovators to find solutions, and ensuring that government infrastructure is prepared for the implementation and scaling of these solutions.

To provide evidence for their argument, PUBLIC highlights some examples of existing best practices:

🌦️ Climate Crisis. 

Brainbox AI uses AI technology to transform buildings into thermal batteries that provide the energy flexibility necessary to support a reliable and resilient energy transition. The AI technology enables autonomous, optimized decision-making on a granular scale. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Brainbox AI is a global AI hub that partners with organizations such as the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), the Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) at Montreal's McGill University, and other educational institutions. 

💰 Cost of Living Crisis.

Measurable.energy is a startup that is striving to completely eliminate wasted energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from buildings, without requiring any additional effort from occupants. They have developed a building control, automation, and management system that quantifies and optimizes the electricity usage of devices and appliances that are plugged into wall sockets, also known as 'small power'. This technology could be widely adopted by small businesses and housing associations with government support, enabling more effective monitoring of energy habits and the development of customized behavior change campaigns

💉 Healthcare Resilience Crisis.

Eva Health uses advanced infrastructure technology and draws on the way users interact with technology in their personal lives to create EPR solutions that are user-friendly, interoperable, and capable of handling high-pressure situations. Their browser-based solution has been implemented in the UK government's COVID-19 vaccination program and has been deployed in a variety of locations including doctors' offices, sports halls, temples, and other community sites.

🔐 International Security Crisis.

CultureAI is a startup that is dedicated to improving the organizational culture and ways of working of organizations to enhance cyber resilience. Instead of offering traditional resources, CultureAI's system automatically detects human security risks and generates individually personalized educational modules to prevent security incidents caused by employees. Governments could utilize this platform to better understand their current levels of employee cyber risk and ensure that non-secure behavior is minimized across departments and agencies.

If you're interested in learning more about how governments can capitalize on the opportunity provided by best-in-class digital solutions and adopt a new relationship to technology, we encourage you to read the full report. With in-depth analysis and practical recommendations, this report is a must-read for anyone interested in government technology in the age of crisis. Click here to access it.