A Look Into The Future: Envisioning 21st Century Governments
A series of articles about how disruptive technologies can help improve public services
Through the centuries, we have seen trust shifting. People used to trade directly with each other before the industrial revolution; trust shifted to enterprises and other third parties afterwards. Eventually, with the rise of technology, companies such as Uber and Airbnb enabled us to optimize our assets’ utilization in the so-called sharing economy. Now, the latest paradigm shift in trust is called Blockchain Technology. By using blockchain, trust in a single third party is not needed. In convergence with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet-of-Things (IoT), optimal synergy can be reached, and many trusted third parties could be made obsolete. Thereby it increases efficiency, transparency, and control over data ownership.
Disruptive technologies are changing the world.
Disruptive technologies are changing the world in numerous ways. There is no shortage of articles speculating about how technologies will change public services, but most of them do not go into details. Because of this (me, Joni, together with Lucas), we have decided to write a series of articles that explain specific use cases in which technology can improve life and services.
What can you expect from the series?
In this series, each article after this introduction will focus on one particular use case at a time. We are particularly interested in explaining use cases to create more efficient, safer, and transparent systems. Most of our articles will include Blockchain Technology, a handy tool for public sector modernization. However, it also has its limits, of which we are fully aware. We believe that governments are facing a high number of threats, but also opportunities. By addressing these threats and using the options to modernize the public sector, governments can improve their citizens’ lives. We consider that the public can only ask for the implementation of public reforms if they understand threats and the availability of solutions. This motivates us to write about these use cases. Finally, it will be expected from the readers to understand the fundamentals of blockchain in this series.
In the next article, we will cover a decentralized portfolio in which storage and authentication of personal documents are not in the hands of trusted parties, but done online through distributed networks. Later, we will, for example, explain how tender procedures for government projects can be improved and how technologies can be used to fight double taxation.
About us
Joni: I am a 24-year-old Finnish student. I was born in Finland, grew up in France, and did a one-year high school exchange in the United States. After getting a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Politics from Copenhagen Business School, I decided to enroll in a Master of Arts in Politics and Economics in Eurasia at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). I am about to start my military service in the Finnish Defense Forces. I am mostly interested in welfare state modernization and national security questions.
Lucas: Just as Joni, I am 24 years old and interested in modernization and ideology questions. Last year I graduated from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia, where I did a Master’s in International Business. Before that, I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Financial Services Management at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Financial markets (and their flaws) always had my interest, and this quickly led me to Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology. During my studies, I have written several papers about the application of blockchain in financial markets. Currently, I am COO at DIB.ONE, where we develop financial products that are initiated and traded in a peer-to-peer way. My vision is that in 5 to 10 years blockchain, in convergence with other disruptive technologies such as AI and IoT, will have taken over the role of many intermediaries. Governments should embrace these technologies to be more efficient and effective, and of course, to provide better services.
Get in touch
If you have questions, comments, or wish for a particular use case to be covered in this series, do not hesitate to contact us through social media or e-mail.
