Emerging Technology for Response and Recovery: An International Dialogue

Critical challenges that agencies face include the increasing volume of incidents and emergencies, overly complex trade and immigration processes, and evolving threats to borders and customs. Governments can leverage data, AI, intelligent automation, and other emerging technologies to address these complex challenges—while also freeing up critical human resources for high value missions.

Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector: A Maturity Model

The technology is revolutionizing the way we derive value and insights from data in order to improve our daily lives. In addition, governments gather a treasure trove of pertinent data that can be used to execute important missions and improve services to the citizen. An effective AI program can greatly enhance the ability of the public sector to deliver on that promise.

Conversations with Authors: Kevin Desouza

Broadcast Date: 
Monday, April 22, 2019 - 09:00

Kevin C. Desouza

Kevin C. Desouza is a Professor of Business, Technology and Strategy at QUT Business School. Previously, he was Foundation Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. He served from 2012 to 2016 as the inaugural associate dean for research for ASU’s College of Public Service and Community Solutions. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution.

Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities

The author takes this real-world experience to set forth a framework for agencies to plan, develop, and deploy AI systems. He then puts forward a set of challenges for government leaders and innovators in this space, along with opportunities for agencies to act in addressing these challenges. Finally, Desouza outlines a maturity model for agencies to use in guiding their journey forward in applying AI to improve mission performance.

Creating a Balanced Portfolio of Information Technology Metrics

Information technology has made possible the availability of real-time data and the tools to display that data, such as dashboards, scorecards, and heat maps. This has boosted the use of data and evidence by government decision makers in meeting their agency and program missions. But what about the use of performance metrics by agency chief information officers themselves?

Realizing the Promise of Big Data

Professor Desouza provides a clear and useful introduction to the concept of big data, which is receiving increasing attention as a term but also lacks a commonly understood definition. In describing big data, Desouza writes, “Big data is an evolving concept that refers to the growth of data and how it is used to optimize business processes, create customer value, and mitigate risks.” Desouza also describes the differences in the use of big data in the public and private sectors.

Challenge.gov: Using Competitions and Awards to Spur Innovation

One new approach is the use of challenges, which use “crowdsourcing” to canvass solution approaches for particular problems. Challenges open up new avenues for connecting people who have innovative ideas to people in government who can implement these ideas. A recent IBM Center report, Managing Innovation Prizes in Government by Luciano Kay, examined various models pioneered in the private sector to connect innovators with ideas to businesses looking to solve problems. This report by Dr.

Professor, Business, Technology and Strategy
QUT Business School
Australia

Kevin C. Desouza is a Professor of Business, Technology and Strategy at QUT Business School. Previously, he was Foundation Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. He served from 2012 to 2016 as the inaugural associate dean for research for ASU’s College of Public Service and Community Solutions. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Immediately prior to joining ASU, he directed the Metropolitan Institute in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and served as an associate professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech From 2005–2011, he was on the faculty of the University of Washington (UW) Information School and held adjunct appointments in the UW’s College of Engineering and at the Daniel J Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. At UW, he co-founded and directed the Institute for Innovation in Information Management (I3M); Founded the Institute for National Security Education and Research, an inter-disciplinary, university-wide initiative in August 2006, and served as its director until February 2008; and was an affiliate faculty member of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy.

He holds a visiting professorship at the University of Ljubljana. He has held visiting positions at the Center for International Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and the Accenture Institute for High Business Performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Desouza has authored, co-authored, and/or edited nine books, the most recent being Intrapreneurship: Managing Ideas within Your Organization (University of Toronto Press, 2011). He has published more than 150 articles in journals across a range of disciplines including information systems, information science, public administration, political science, technology management, and urban affairs. Desouza is the author of four reports for the IBM Center for The Business of Government, Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities, Creating a Balanced Portfolio of Information Technology Metrics, Challenge.gov: Using Competitions and Awards to Spur Innovation and Realizing the Promise of Big Data.

His work has also been featured by a number of outlets such as Sloan Management Review, Stanford Social Innovation Research, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Businessweek, Wired, Governing, Slate.com, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NPR, PBS, and Computerworld, among others. Most recently, he curated the Ideas to Retire series for the Brookings Institution that examines practices that are stifling technological innovation in the public sector. Desouza has advised, briefed, and/or consulted for major international corporations, non-governmental organizations, and public agencies on strategic management issues ranging from management of information systems to knowledge management, innovation programs, crisis management, and leadership development. Desouza has received over $1.8 million in research funding from both private and government organizations For more information, please visit: http://www.kevindesouza.net.

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