Digital for the public good
Aitor Ugarte GómezDigital transformation in public administration
Who I am
I'm a computer engineer at the Government of Biscay (Diputación Foral de Bizkaia), in the Basque Country. I drive digital transformation projects, analyse data that supports better decisions and work towards government that's easier to understand.
I like discipline and rigour, and environments built for high performance and results. Everything else – roles, dates and details – is on LinkedIn(opens in a new window).
And the reason is simple: digitising the public sector well means serving more people, faster and better.
Digitalisation in public administration
What I've learned, in five ideas.
Citizens first
A digital service isn't measured by its technology, but by whether people understand it, complete it and would recommend it. Everything else is secondary.
Data for decisions
Governments accumulate data they rarely use. Governed well, that data helps design better services, evaluate policies and answer for results. Always with privacy as the starting point, never as an obstacle.
Digitising is not scanning
Turning paper into PDFs transforms nothing. Transforming means rethinking the service end to end, with the people who use it and those who deliver it.
Test, learn, scale
Government can also be a laboratory: prototypes, pilots and tests. What works is scaled; what doesn't is dropped – and a controlled failure costs far less than doing nothing.
Communicating is part of the service
A good service is useless if nobody understands it. Plain language and channels designed for each audience: that is the front door.
Digital transformation is not a project: it's changing the way we work.
Where I come from
From technology consulting for the public sector and from grassroots work in youth and pro-European organisations, with a local-to-global outlook.
Equipo Europa
Pro-European youth association that works to promote the European Union among young people and increase their political participation.
Global Shapers Bilbao
Global network of young leaders and innovators aged 18 to 30, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.
I've worked at
I carry all of that with me, every day.
Shall we talk?
If you're driving digital transformation in government – from the inside or from the outside – putting data to work, or making government easier to understand, we could talk about it over a coffee.