[Video intro ends at 52 seconds; Intro by Dr. Gref ends at 2'18; Speech ends at 11'15; then Q&A]
These remarks have been edited from a 9-minute speech made in Moscow on November 12, 2011 at the 170th anniversary of Sperbank, Russia's largest and oldest financial institution. Speakers at this panel were introduced by Dr. Hermann Gref (CEO and Chairman of the Board, Sperbank, and former Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade) and included Vladimir Putin, Prof. Jeff Howe (Northeastern), Prof. Tom Malone (MIT) and Dr. Paul Saffo (Managing Director of Foresight, Discern Analytics), Patrick Howard (Vice-President and Global Cloud Leader, IBM Global Business Services) and Klaus Kleinfeld (CEO and Chairman of the Board, Alcoa).
For Prime Minister Putin's presentation, click here.
Crowdsourcing Governance
We’ve heard today that as individuals we are smarter collaborating together than working alone. That is as true for institutions as it is for individuals. We are also smarter working across the boundaries of institutions with groups and individuals outside the walls of a single organization.
Collaboration makes businesses more successful. After all, Sberbank made $30 billion rubles ($1 billion U.S. dollars) as a result of its recent crowdsourcing experiments. But how do we, practically speaking, use technology and these collaborative processes to marry the chaotic success of Wikipedia to the hierarchical institutions of governance and government at the national and local level?
Challenges
To do so, we have three challenges we must first overcome:
1. Serious Problems: The problems governments face are serious and complex. We live in a world with 7 billion people and soon we’ll live in a world with 10 billion people, 40% of whom will not have access to healthcare, clean water, or basic education. The breakup of the Eurozone is not the same as the Eurovision song contest. Are these kind of contests too frivolous to address the problems we face?
2. Declining Legitimacy: Globally, trust in government institutions is declining. We only need to witness the Arab Spring or the Occupy Wall Street movement. In the United States, by some measures trust in government is at an all time low of 9%. Government has to act with legitimacy. It has to engender trust. It has to have stability in its decision making. Is trying to connect the pulsing, vibrant network to the institution too experimental, too radical for government?
3. Too Costly: Finally, are these techniques too novel for government? It might be nice to have, but is crowdsourcing a must-have that is worth the investment of time and money?
Solutions
I would argue that collaboration is more important for government than for business in these very tough economic times, because it enables government to deliver better services for less money and more democratically.
First, crowdsourcing is a serious solution to serious problems.
1. Saving Money: Twenty nations, and countless states and local governments, have created and launched national data portals to put out spending data. With information about how government spends money, citizens can crowdsource the development of solutions to spot fraud and waste, such as sophisticated models, visualizations, and predictions. But what they can also do, as in happened in the state of Rajasthan, India, is crowdsource the reading of that data in the town square and the writing of that data on one hundred thousand walls of villages, so people can then identify paychecks that have been written to someone who has died or bridges that were never built when the government claimed that they were.
2. Spotting problems: There are local platforms like See Click Fix, in use now in seventy governments across six continents, that allow for distributed problem spotting. Identifying red lights that are out at intersections or potholes in the street allows government to target the delivery of services more effectively and more cheaply.
3. Innovating Solutions: But crowdsourcing also allows for innovating solutions and not just the spotting of problems. The Department of Defense has used crowdsourcing to design a new combat vehicle. And they got it done not in years, not in months, but with 159 competitive, serious submissions obtained in a matter of weeks. How did this work? The Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative created a single platform called Challenge.gov that makes it simple and easy for every ministry to post a challenge and ask people not simply to suggest ideas but to develop solutions. Our Office initially helped ministries to frame the question, to pick the judges, and to identify their goals. Initially we provided some support centrally to educate the lawyers and the ministries to say “you too can do this,” or “it’s okay to do this.” But very quickly we put ourselves out of business because the ministries began to talk to each other. Now there is an effective community of practice with at least sixty agencies who communicate about the challenges they’ve created, the successes they’ve had, and they have learned from their experience putting these challenges on the web through this single, free platform.
Second, designed right, these are not experimental projects.
Previously, I had some experience creating a platform called Peer to Patent, in which we connected volunteer scientists and technologists to the national patent offices. The program, began in the US, then expanded to the UK, Japan, and Australia. This is is a structured, targeted process that uses rating and ranking - thumbs up and thumbs down - to deliver to the government official not ten thousand suggestions, not one hundred suggestions, but ten pieces of information that will help to inform his or her ultimate decision about the application that deserves a patent. I describe this at length in my book, Wiki Government.
This week, the British Prime Minister announced a new initiative to crowdsource the identification of regulations that are impeding and hindering entrepreneurship of new businesses. But he’s not just asking for those thousand ideas, he’s offering a process to ask the crowd to then help implement those suggestions and gather the data that’s necessary, so that crowdsourcing doesn’t create more work for government officials. It helps them in making their decisions.
Third, innovative solutions such as crowdsourcing are a must have, not just a nice to have. The tools to crowdsource are free or nearly free and the solutions are generated quickly. It makes government cheaper, smarter, and more effective.
In the Department of Veteran Affairs in the United States, the agency asked the nineteen thousand employees for a solution to the problem of how to bring down the wait time for veterans coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq to receive services that are owed to them. The time was reduced from more than a year to now only to a few weeks. It took only one person in the ministry, part time, to run a project that generated involvement from seven thousand employees in the first month alone.
There’s a town in California that just launched an iPhone app that manages a network of trained volunteers who respond when someone has a heart attack but before the ambulance can arrive. This saves lives at no extra cost.
The Latvian Parliament is working with Latvia’s banks to authenticate citizens identities in order to crowdsource the development of new legislation. The legislation is shaped by citizens, who are advised by a network of voluntary experts before the legislation is implemented.
And we’ve heard from the Prime Minister that here members of the public in Russia are helping to rewrite new laws, like a law on fisheries, and working together to supplement official government efforts by providing aid and assistance during the devastating fires that rampaged Moscow last year.
Closing
So let me close by saying that we have the means to engage more people in the life of their democracy.
This is not about the technology. That’s free.
It’s about asking questions. It’s about a willingness to ask and to create engaging and accessible opportunities for people to participate. But it’s not the same ad voting. It’s not about creating a single mass process that’s one size fits all. What’s required is crowdsourcing wisely, not crowdsourcing widely: developing many different, small ways for people to lend their expertise, their experience, and their enthusiasm for the public good whether it’s about patents or fish, veterans or potholes.
Churchill said, “democracy is the worst form of government except all others.” But we can do better. And thanks to the techniques that we’ve heard about today, we have the experience to make institutions of our democracy more effective and more participatory. Not just in principle, but in practice. Thomas Jefferson said we can “mak[e] every citizen an acting member of the government in the offices nearest and most interesting to him.” This in turn, Jefferson went on to say, “attaches him by the strongest feelings to the independence of the country and it’s Republican Constitution.”
Thank you and happy birthday.
Excellent article, I will recommend my friends to read it.
Posted by: cruise the maldives | January 05, 2012 at 03:48 AM
This is really the great way you discuss this kind of topic. Good job.
Posted by: can i buy valtrex online | January 05, 2012 at 08:03 PM
Interesting perspectives in thie piece, thanks for sharing this. Beth is a wonderfuls speaker as well.
Posted by: Forklift Training Blog | January 11, 2012 at 01:11 PM
fascinating to know that there more solutions given than problems attacking. Great strategy!
Posted by: cisco ccna training | February 14, 2012 at 10:23 PM
I even told my friends to take a look at your blog and in fact your blog is already bookmarked on my computer. Hope to see more of this.
Posted by: abdominal exercise equipment | March 02, 2012 at 05:57 AM
Your article inspired me into action! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! David
http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Alzheimers-Blitzkrieg?c=activity&a=441422
Posted by: David Austin | March 03, 2012 at 07:51 AM
Yes I should agree with you about this challenge. It's too costly. Nowadays, everybody is experiencing global recession. If we can make a little reconsideration when it comes to prices the better.
Posted by: iphone apps | March 21, 2012 at 07:54 PM
the data that’s necessary, so that crowdsourcing doesn’t create more work for government officials. It helps them in making their decisions.
Posted by: Mail Forwarding Services | July 16, 2012 at 06:57 AM
This is a fantastic and inteligence article. Thanks!!!
Posted by: Psicologos Barcelona | July 17, 2012 at 05:43 PM
know that there more solutions given than problems attacking. Great strategy!
Posted by: Virtual Office Services | July 20, 2012 at 04:45 AM
inspired me into action! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! David
Posted by: Web Designers | July 24, 2012 at 04:24 AM
Thomas Jefferson said we can “mak[e] every citizen an acting member of the government in the offices nearest and most interesting to him.” This in turn, Jefferson went on to say, “attaches him by the strongest feelings to the independence of the country and it’s Republican Constitution.”
Posted by: eid messages | July 24, 2012 at 05:41 AM
IBM Global Business Services) and Klaus Kleinfeld (CEO and Chairman of the Board, Alcoa).
Posted by: SEO Orlando | July 27, 2012 at 10:26 PM
Eurozone is not the same as the Eurovision song contest. Are these kind of contests too frivolous to a
Posted by: Tucson Massage Therapy | August 01, 2012 at 02:40 AM
IBM Global Business Services) and Klaus Kleinfeld (CEO and Chairman of the Board, Alcoa).
Posted by: Tucson Massage Therapy | August 01, 2012 at 02:40 AM
I do follow almost every single post out here!
Posted by: here | August 02, 2012 at 10:36 AM
The best way to know if the audiences are becoming interested with topic discussed is through asking questions raised from their mind. The people will participate if the topic is interesting. Sharing every experiences of listeners will help them feel part of the discussion.
Posted by: Jhonny Skul | August 11, 2012 at 12:38 PM
The best provision to know if the viewers are getting interested with topic discussed is through request dispute raised from their mind. The aviation evidence participate if the topic is interesting. Sharing every experiences of listeners will help them emotion fragments of the discussion.
Posted by: eid greetings | August 15, 2012 at 01:55 AM
It's really amazing post. I like to read such blog regarding government. Thanks for sharing this one.
Posted by: beats by dre | August 21, 2012 at 03:26 AM
The best tools to know if the audience are becoming interested with topic discussed is through asking controversy raised from their mind. The tribe evidence participate if the topic is interesting. Sharing every experiences of listeners evidence assistance them brains fragments of the discussion.
Posted by: new york escorts | August 30, 2012 at 01:21 AM
Some of the ways that can be used is to recapitulate what has been discussed. With this technique, audiences will surely make the topics clearer on their end.
Posted by: Sharon Parker | September 03, 2012 at 05:19 PM
The tribe evidence participate if the topic is interesting. Sharing every experiences of listeners evidence assistance them brains fragments of the discussion.
Posted by: serial drama | September 04, 2012 at 05:03 AM
Now there is an effective community of practice with at least sixty agencies who communicate about the challenges they’ve created, the successes they’ve had, and they have learned from their experience putting these challenges on the web through this single, free platform.
Posted by: apnaonlinetv | September 08, 2012 at 04:24 AM
Happy anniversary and may Gog gives you all the happiness and may you live long its a great achievement.
Posted by: cheap fantasy swords | September 28, 2012 at 06:01 AM
I also wish him good luck to defend his gold medal. I like to share it with all my friends and hope they will also encourage him. Keep up with your good work...
Posted by: cell phone spy software | October 01, 2012 at 04:51 AM
evidence assistance them brains fragments of the discussion. Sharing every experiences of listeners..
Posted by: seo hong kong | October 03, 2012 at 01:12 AM
The topic is interesting. Sharing every experiences of listeners evidence assistance them brains fragments of the discussion.
Posted by: allbestserials | October 04, 2012 at 09:45 AM
like to share it with all my friends and hope they will also encourage him. Keep up with your good work...
Posted by: tv serials | October 17, 2012 at 02:00 AM
Great tips and very easy to understand. This will definitely be very useful for me when I get a chance to start my blog.
Posted by: idateasia scam | October 19, 2012 at 12:40 AM
I would like to show gratitude for the hard work you have made in writing this post. I am hopeful the same best work from you in the upcoming as well.
Posted by: diwali images | November 08, 2012 at 11:08 AM
The aboriginal Chicago Bulls Snapback mj88jq23 abode Chicago Bulls Hats a lot of MLB Snapback Hats humans attending NBA Snapback Hats and conceivably NFL Snapback Hats the simplest Orlando Magic Hats way to Utah Jazz Hats acquisition the Atlanta Falcons Hats bargain hats Buffalo Bills Hats would be Chicago Bears Hats at the Cleveland Browns Hats administration Dallas Cowboys Hats abundance of Denver Broncos Hats your area.Detroit Lions Hats
Posted by: MLB Snapback Hats | November 09, 2012 at 12:58 AM
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with valuable info to work on. You have done a formidable job and our whole community will be thankful to you.
Posted by: Audio Jobs | November 26, 2012 at 07:59 AM
This is very new information for me because me first time visit here and i have learn a lot thanks for sharing.
Posted by: christmas wallpaper | November 26, 2012 at 10:37 AM
I've to say i'm very impressed with the way you efficiently site and your posts are so informative. You have really have managed to catch the attention of many it seems, thanks!
Posted by: skype скачать | February 15, 2013 at 04:51 AM
saw assassin's creed jacket black its amazing
http://www.celebswear.com/products/Assassins-Creed-3-Connor-Kenway-Jacket.html
Posted by: kate | June 20, 2013 at 06:18 AM