DATE / TIME:

2016•07•21    16:00 - 17:00

Location:

Guimarães

Abstract

This seminar will present the outcome of a study on Beijing’s journey towards Knowledge Societies and the role of Digital Government along this journey, conducted as part of the joint Government Fellowship programme by UNU-EGOV and UNESCO-IFAP. The study:

1. Takes stock of existing research and policy literature on Knowledge Societies and Digital Government in general and in the Beijing context in particular;
2. Collects relevant indicators that track how the city progressed in this area and maps such progress against various policy initiatives adopted over the years including but not limited to the 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 editions of the Beijing Informatization Plan;
3. Recalls a conceptual framework that explains the evolution and convergence of Digital Government and Knowledge Societies following the Digital Government Evolution model and the Knowledge Societies Policy Handbook;
4. Applies the framework to carry out a systematic analysis of the situation and progress of Beijing in the journey towards Knowledge Societies based on the literature review, policy initiatives and measurement results; and
5. Presents the findings including drivers, barriers and enablers for developing Knowledge Societies in Beijing and offers a set of policy recommendations.

The recommendations will be used as inputs to the process of updating the Beijing Smart City Policy, Beijing e-Government Strategy and various sectoral policies due for revision before 2020. The recommendations are also expected to lead to the consolidation of various ICT-related policies into policy for Knowledge Societies, to serve as a uniform platform for sectoral development planning, and to help Beijing pursue Sustainable Development Goals.

Speaker

Jun Cheng is the Secretary General of the Professional Technical Committee at the Beijing Information Resources Management Center, an organization under the Beijing Municipal Government. He is also Assessment Expert at the Beijing Information Project Processing Center, and Associate Researcher of the Peking University. Jun Cheng holds PhD in Information Sciences from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2003), and BSc in Automation from the Dalian University of Technology (1994). He has been Government Fellow at UNU-EGOV under a joint Government Fellowship programme by UNU-EGOV and UNESCO-IFAP from April to August 2016.