InGov project among European Commission’s Horizon Results Booster

The Policy Brief Compilation Booklet, entitled “Innovative Public Services for EU Citizens” provides recommendations in order to deliver better eGovernment services, with the ultimate goal to have all EU public services for both citizens and business fully online by 2030. It is the first joint policy paper on Smarter eGovernment for European Residents to have been issued with the cooperation of four EU funded projects namely, ACROSS Project, inGOV Project, INTERLINK Project and mGov4EU.

In view of 2030, e-government (eGov) projects gain significant importance as they are designed to deliver effective government services to citizens and businesses more efficiently, enabling them to easily and conveniently access government services online, by leveraging digital technology. At the same time, help governments benefit from increased efficiency, reduced labor costs and enhanced community engagement by transitioning their services to digital platforms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the demand for accessing public services through online channels, as it has disrupted many aspects of daily life that European citizens used to take for granted, including their freedom of movement within the EU. In addition, effective delivery of high-quality digital public services across national borders is crucial for the successful establishment of the European Digital Single Market.

The paper points out the policy challenges in smoothing the public services usage in the EU, such as the insufficient progress on interoperability, the lack of citizens’ trust about data and online services, as well as the lack of use of synergies.

Finally, it makes a series of recommendations in order to overcome the above challenges and move toward a user-centric, interoperable, and trustworthy European eGovernment policy. These recommendations include increasing interoperability across countries, delivering data protection and privacy to citizens, creating a unified cross-border service platform, improving mutual trust between member states and considering mobile-first in digital policy.

Uni Systems is a partner of InGov, a Horizon 2020 funded project aimed at creating innovative governance models for inclusive and accessible Integrated Public Services. Find here the Policy Brief Compilation booklet.