Area 1: Digital & Data-Driven Transformations in Governance
Digital & Data-driven Transformations in Governance
Digital and data-driven transformations in governance are centered on exploring new approaches to decision-making that can lead to significant shifts in how we innovate and enhance efficiency. This vision covers a broad range of topics, from the foundational principles of democratic systems to practical applications like improving citizen services, monitoring public infrastructure, and supporting government operations.
Reimagining governance involves moving beyond traditional decision-making processes and connecting top-down, theory-based approaches with bottom-up, data-driven strategies. The aim is to create new insights that can guide critical decisions in a rapidly changing world.
One of the main challenges in this transformation is adapting existing systems, communities, and policies to new forms of engagement, particularly within increasingly digital and interconnected environments. Three key areas of focus have emerged: public participation and collective intelligence, the transformation of relationships and organizations, and the need for openness in governance.
These changes affect a wide range of stakeholders, including individuals, organizations, and institutions across the public, private, and voluntary sectors. This raises important questions about how governments interact with the private sector and citizens, as well as issues related to data access, information sharing, and their impact on democracy, citizen rights, and public services.
An example of how these ideas are being applied in practice is the development of new models that combine governance with data services, enabling collaboration among citizens, service providers, and researchers to drive systemic change.
- From data to decisions: knowledge generation and evidence formation;
- Process, psychology and behaviour of decision-making in digital era;
- Government operations and services;
- Government-citizen interactions; and open government;
- Democracy, public deliberation, public infrastructure, justice, media;
- Public, private and voluntary sector governance and policy-making.
Area 1 Committee Members:
- Sarah Giest, University of Leiden, Netherlands
- Sharique Manazir, Kautilya School of Public Policy, India
- Francesco Mureddu, Lisbon Council, Belgium
- Anastasija Nikiforova, University of Tartu, Estonia
- Sujit Sikder, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Germany
- Bonnie Buyuklieva, UCL, UK
- Austin Zwick, Syracuse University, USA
Exploring Digital & Data-Driven Transformations in Governance: A Landscape Review
Abstract
Data for Policy a global community, focuses on policy–data interactions by exploring how data can be used for policy in an ethical, responsible, and efficient manner. Within its journal, six focus areas, including Data for Policy Area 1: Digital & Data-driven Transformations in Governance, were established to delineate the evolving research landscape from the Data for Policy Conference series. This review addresses the absence of a formal conceptualization of digital and data-driven transformations in governance within this focus area. The paper achieves this by providing a working definition, mapping current research trends, and proposing a future research agenda centered on three core transformations: (1) public participation and collective intelligence; (2) relationships and organizations; and (3) open data and government. The paper outlines research questions and connects these transformations to related areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), sustainable smart cities, digital divide, data governance, co-production, and service quality. This contribution forms the foundational development of a research agenda for academics and practitioners engaged in or impacted by digital and data-driven transformations in policy and governance. Read the full report