Study on Interoperability at Local and Regional Level

Konstantinos Tarabanis, Technical Director, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission

8/29/2008
(Original Publish Date: 4/20/2007)

Electronic Government (eGovernment) refers to the modernisation of public administration with the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The potential of eGovernment is huge as it can improve the internal processes of the public sector, the experience of citizens and businesses when interacting with public administration, and the democratic processes e.g. by enabling increased stakeholders’ participation. eGovernment suggests that public administration should explore changing its modus operandi. More specifically, it suggests abandoning a bureaucratic model, which is characterised by functional decomposition, for a collaborative model where all public authorities are working together to better fulfill their aims (including better governance and services, more efficient and effective internal processes etc.).