Connecting & collaborating: Digital innovations to common challenges
During the crisis we have seen local public services and their partners work tirelessly to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on their communities, services, and citizens.
The Covid-19 crisis has been a catalyst of digital change for many local authorities. From increase in remote working to virtual committee meetings to how services are being delivered, councils are working digitally. We have seen a swift and innovative response from local authorities, in particular those that already had strong leadership, existing digital infrastructure and agility in place.
As councils plan for recovery, it’s never been more important for organisations to collaborate, share learning and scale up good practice. As such, techUK is delighted to be partnering with the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) to deliver a series of bringing together our two communities to interrogate some of the most pressing challenges our communities face and together explore what the art of the possible is. It will be an opportunity for the tech industry to be better informed of the problem and for local public services to access the latest innovations and potentially co-design solutions. The aim is to foster collaboration across the local ecosystem, enabling reuse of ideas and for innovation to flourish.
techUK and LGIU have previously worked together to explore how digital can be harnessed to improve outcomes for children services and homelessness prevention. Our first event in February 2021 will focus on triage and referrals and how digital can be further utilized to support the most vulnerable. Our next event will focus on digital democracy exploring how technology can reinvigorate civic engagement which will be very topical with 2021 seeing both local government and metro mayoral elections.
If you have any suggestions on key areas that you would like to see in this series get in touch!
Georgina Maratheftis
Georgina is techUK’s Associate Director for Local Public Services
