Take our survey on 10 government innovations and the hype cycle

Every government says that it is committed to deploying the best of digital technology to improve its performance and the public services their citizens rely on. That's no secret. But does the rhetoric match the reality?

The Centre for Public Impact is conducting a survey which aims to identify which technologies and approaches are proving the most popular amongst administrations worldwide - all mapped against Gartner's hype cycle.

What is the hype cycle?

Generally used for companies in the private sector to manage their deployment strategies and exploit new opportunities, the hype cycle can provide a helpful and entertaining way to map how a technology develops in government.

The IT research and advisory firm Gartner developed this graphical representation of the stages a new technology goes through before it reaches maturity. It illustrates how new technologies start in the technology trigger phase, climb the peak of inflated expectations, fall into the trough of disillusionment, and traverse the slope of enlightenment before arriving at the plateau of productivity:

Hyperbolic expectations of the early and courageous first users become more realistic and eventually the technology hits mainstream adoption. Some, of course, never make it to the end and fall into the graveyard of discarded ideas.

Take our survey

Last year we estimated where 10 government innovations were along the hype cycle. This year, we are running a survey on 10 key technologies and innovative working methods and their place along the cycle. It's an interactive way for people to tell us at what stage of adoption these technologies (which include e-government, artificial intelligence, new public management, design thinking and others) are in the public sector.

For instance, new public management is a methodology that was introduced during the time of Margaret Thatcher and has come a long way since the 1980s, when it struggled with concerns that public managers would move away from trying to meet citizens' needs, to being embedded productively in government practices. A more recent innovation like blockchain might still be very much in the actual “hype” stage. There isn't yet a full understanding of its applications, but as a radical security tool, blockchain has the potential to improve transparency and check corruption in governments worldwide.

The popular perception is that technological adoption is slower in government than in the private sector, but this may not be true. A 2015 survey conducted by Arizona State University found that governments were ahead of private sector firms when it came to adoption of new ICT and in particular social media applications.

As organisations, governments have certain structural advantages over private firms, in particular, their relationship with citizens is quite different from the one between firms and their clients (governments can exercise coercive authority over their citizens unlike firms where clients can leave if they are dissatisfied with the service). Government might therefore have more leeway to experiment with things where the end result is unknown. Given that all these methods have the possibility of making valuable contributions where citizens would reap the benefits, it might be worth persevering all the way through to the plateau of productivity.

Our survey aims to help give further clarity to such questions - and we look forward to reporting back on the findings later this year.

FURTHER READING

• 10 government innovations and their place in the hype cycle. With governments often seeking to innovate, Danny Buerkli maps how examples of such work can be applied to the hype cycle
• Briefing Bulletin: Going digital - how governments can use technology to transform lives around the world
• Going digital:  how governments can pick up the pace. When it comes to digital government, the gap between rhetoric and reality remains far too wide, says Florian Frey, but it can be closed. Here, he sets out five ways government could improve its digital deployment.
• Paul Shetler: The digital disrupter. What Paul Shetler doesn't know about technology isn't worth knowing. He tells Joel Tito about the ups and downs of driving digital change in government
• Googling better government. After helping rescue healthcare.gov, Mikey Dickerson is now focusing on the US federal government's wider deployment of digital technology. He takes time out to tell Danny Werfel why it's no more business as usual
• Taking tech to the citizens. Tired of politicians saying one thing and doing another once they are elected? MIT's Emilie Reiser reports on a new data-driven approach to accountability and impact
• Transforming technology, transforming government. Rare is the policymaker who doesn”t see digital as a doorway for strengthening public services. But as Miguel Carrasco explains, the pace of the digital evolution means there is always more to do
• Power to the people. Few countries have embraced the digital era as successfully as New Zealand. We talk to one of its government”s key digital transformation leaders, Richard Foy, about how they”ve done it.
• Computer says yes. Governments are increasingly reliant on digital technology to deliver public services and Australia”s myGov service is a potential game-changer, says Gary Sterrenberg