The director of the AOC, Miquel Estape, has recently participated in the congress “Innovation 2026” in London, one of the most relevant global events organized by the Global Government ForumThe event brought together leaders from leading governments in digital transformation – such as Singapore, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Australia – to share experiences and innovative initiatives.
Digital Identity, the foundation of digital government
One of the strategic axes of the congress was the consolidation of digital identity as the foundation that provides access to digital public services. It was highlighted that its success depends on four key factors: the creation of a solid framework of trust, an exceptional user experience that eliminates barrierseres entry, and an easy and immediate online registration system. The fourth factor is public-private collaboration: the public sector provides legitimacy and legal authority, but often lacks applications for daily use. The private sector —especially banking— has precisely those applications that citizens use on a daily basis. The combination of both worlds is therefore key.
The next evolutionary step is the cardseres mobile digital (Wallets), which allow personal credentials to be managed securely and based on consent, and which open the door to personalized proactive services.
A noteworthy fact: several Anglo-Saxon countries—the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States—do not have a unique identification number for each citizen, for historical cultural and political reasons. This creates serious difficulties for them when it comes to offering agile and accessible digital identification systems.
Shared digital services, accelerators of transformation
The congress reaffirmed the importance of shared digital services, also known internationally as digital public infrastructure. It was emphasized that they are a long-term investment as vital to the economy as public transport.eres or airports.
The congress reaffirmed the importance of shared digital services —also known internationally as digital public infrastructure— as a long-term investment as vital to the economy as carts areeres or airports.
A shared services model allows for the acceleration of digital transformation at all levels of government through common solutions that generate savings and ensure that no citizen is left behind, regardless of whether they live in a large municipality or a council with few resources.
To build this digital infrastructure between different administrations, something that is not technology is first needed: institutional agreements and a horizontal —non-hierarchical— collaboration model that generates long-term trust between the organizations involved.
Building trust in artificial intelligence
In a context in which artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most questioned technologies in history due to the risks it can entail, administrations must make an active effort to gain public trust in its proper use.
Trust is not bought, it is earned. transparència radical. The AOC and the Generalitat de Catalunya are leaders in applying reports of transparència algorithmic and risk and impact assessments of all AI use cases, going far beyond what is required by the European AI Regulation which only requires it for use cases with a high level of risk.
The potential of Agentive AI and interoperability
Agentive AI (Agentic AI) refers to generative AI systems capable of planning and executing complex processes autonomously, interacting with diverse actors and heterogeneous information systems to achieve specific goals. Although it is in its early stages, its potential to automate complicated processes—such as the management of subsidies, grants, or building permits—is enormous.
For it to be truly effective, however, some basic prerequisites are needed: robust data governance, a “single source of truth” and consolidated interoperability platforms. In this regard, Catalonia has an advantage in developing intelligent inter-administrative agents: it has Via Oberta and various digital service integration nodes (invoices, notifications, citizen portfolio, inter-administrative procedures, etc.) that should allow these innovative solutions to be deployed.
At the congress it became clear that several advanced countries still do not have interoperability platforms or service integration nodes, which represents a serious disadvantage when deploying intelligent inter-administrative agents for process automation.
Other conclusions: leadership, measurement and services of the future
An idea that was often repeated at the congress: the success of digital transformation is not a technological issue. It is, above all, a question of leadership. It is necessary to have clear and competent leadership that knows how to create a shared vision, prioritize the areas of greatest impact in the generation of public value and have the courage to make difficult decisions to overcome resistance and barriers.eres to the change.
Digital leaders must simultaneously combine technical competence, the ability to manage change and the ability to adapt the regulatory framework.
To achieve effective digital transformation, it is necessary to measure the impact on the generation of public value. Good impact indicators are those that focus on the effects on people and that are clear on the principle that “everything begins and ends with the citizen”. The indicators that are measured are intrinsically aligned with the strategy. As was said at the congress: “tell me what you measure and I will tell you what your strategy is”.
Finally, there is a great consensus on what the services of the future are that should make people's lives easier: they should be proactive, personalized, accessible from mobile (mobile first), with an excellent citizen experience, which allow control of personal data, which generate trust, designed with the mentality of the new generations of digital natives and which allow the integration (in the near future) of personal citizen agents.
