NYC Opportunity’s Matt Klein, Named One of the World’s 50 Most Influential People Revolutionising Government
Apolitical, a London-based organization that works to promote effective government worldwide, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, has named NYC Opportunity’s executive director, Matt Klein, to its inaugural “Agile 50,” a list of “the World’s 50 Most Influential People Revolutionising Government.” He was one of four “Local Government Heroes” on the list.
The “Agile 50” list shines a spotlight on “politicians, civil servants and entrepreneurs driving agility in governments all around the world.” It was selected from over 300 recommendations made by global business leaders, tech startups, civil society organizations and public servants, following a call for nominations made at Davos in January 2020.
The final selection was made in collaboration with the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Agile Governance. (There is more on how the selection was done here.) In its announcement, Apolitical noted the work that NYC Opportunity does to “design, test and oversee new programs and digital products, evaluate anti-poverty approaches, and facilitate data integration across agencies.”
Among the other people named to the list this year are Paola Pisano, Minister for Technological Innovation and Digitalisation of Italy; Iain Forbes, Head of the UK Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles; and Wendy Flores, the Director of Regulatory Improvement, Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce for Costa Rica.
In its announcement, Apolitical noted the special challenges posed to government officials this year:
“Long before the pandemic, governments were grappling with how to seize the opportunities of innovation — such as autonomous vehicles, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology — while mitigating the risks,” it said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified this challenge, increasing the need for governments to enable new ways of doing things in the face of widespread social and economic disruption.”
Apolitical is a global learning platform for government. It equips public servants to do their jobs through free access to courses, articles, events, and connections to other public servants. Apolitical is co-designed and funded by governments, and used by public servants in over 160 countries.
