Modernising government is on the agenda at this week’s Innovation 2024 event
Civil and public servants are meeting in London this week to share insights on how modern governments can work effectively at Global Government Forum’s annual Innovation conference.
Innovation 2024 is being held on 19-20 March at the ExCeL in London. Co-hosted by the UK Government, UK Civil Service and the Cabinet Office, this unique exhibition and conference brings together government leaders from around the world to share how to make public service transformation happen.
This year’s two-day agenda will examine how governments are innovating in areas including service delivery, skills, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and digital and data.
Speakers at the event, which is supported by platinum global knowledge partner EY, will include senior UK civil servants, as well as international government leaders.
UK speakers include Alex Chisholm, the chief operating officer of the UK civil service and permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office; Susan Acland-Hood, the permanent secretary at the Department for Education; Jeremy Pocklington, permanent secretary, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; Sarah Munby, permanent secretary, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; and Beth Russell and Cat Little, who are both second permanent secretary at HM Treasury. (Little has been announced as Chisholm’s successor and will start in the role in April).
Other senior UK civil servants taking part in sessions at the conference include Nick Smallwood, the chief executive of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority; Fiona Ryland, government’s chief people officer; Gareth Rhys Williams, government’s chief commercial officer; and Sapana Agrawal, director, modernisation and reform in the Cabinet Office.
International speakers at the conference will include Clare Martorana, the US federal chief information officer; Aileen Lourdes Lizada, commissioner, Civil Service Commission, Philippines; Peter Pogačar, director general, Public Sector Directorate, Ministry of Public Administration, Slovenia; Fariz Jafarov, chief executive officer, Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Azerbaijan; and Yvan Gauthier, head, artificial intelligence accelerator at the Data Analytics Centre at the Canadian government’s National Research Council.
Alex Chisholm said that the UK government was excited to host the event again.
“The connections made, innovations shared and lessons learned from the 2023 event have helped shape our thinking as we reform and modernise the Civil Service, and I personally took a great deal from Innovation 2023,” he said.
“We all know that we need to constantly refine our ways of working, reshape our processes and reform and modernise our public services to better serve our citizens and elected leaders.
That’s why the UK Government, led by the Cabinet Office, is pleased to once again be working with Global Government Forum to host this international conference on innovation in governments. The conference is delivered free to the UK taxpayer and is open to all public servants to attend free of charge.”
“As platinum sponsor of Innovation 2024, EY is delighted to help bring together this international group of public sector leaders,” said Catherine Friday, EY’s global government & public sector leader.
“We work with government organisations around the world to help improve public services and programmes for the people and communities they serve. The connections made at Innovation 2024 will mean that insights, knowledge and best practices are shared across borders. And this can only accelerate the process of successful innovation that will lead to better services. I look forward to meeting attendees in London.”
About Sarah Wray
Sarah has over 15 years’ experience as a journalist with a specialism in the public sector and topics such as digitalisation and climate action. Sarah was formerly the editor of Cities Today and Smart Cities World, as well as a specialist video-based publication in the aerospace sector. She has also written for publications including Smart Cities Dive, Mobile Europe, Mobile World Live and Computer Weekly.
