Follow the sun and gain vital insights on implementing digital change at international Beyond 2010 conference

Published by PartnersPR for Beyond 2010 in Local Government and also in Education

UK public service providers will have the exclusive opportunity to learn from three of the world's digitally pioneering cities through Birmingham's Beyond 2010 conference on 20-21 October, organised by Birmingham City Council, with a concurrent series of events in South Korea's capital city Seoul and Edmonton in Canada.

Offering a fascinating global perspective from all three cities on the benefits of embracing smart solutions in public service delivery, 'Follow the Sun' will illustrate the innovative approaches of Birmingham, Edmonton and Seoul who are at the vanguard of digitally-enabled living and service transformation.

Through live links on day two of Beyond 2010 with Seoul in the morning and Edmonton in the afternoon, Follow the Sun will provide UK delegates faced with the challenge of delivering better public services for less with invaluable strategic and practical insights into digital technology's power to provide solutions for today and in the future.

Delegates will hear from Dr Jung-hee Song, CIO in Seoul, widely acknowledged as one of the world's most connected cities through its comprehensive and widely used superfast broadband infrastructure and its extensive e-government programme Ubiquitous Seoul.

“It is a great pleasure to represent Asia to share the digital developments of Seoul as a part of the Follow the Sun session of Beyond 2010”, said Dr Jung-hee Song. “I believe Beyond 2010 will serve as a truly informative, international, and inspirational occasion and take innovative approaches to demonstrate how technology can and will help the world “live smart, work smart, and learn smart.”

With UK government policy demanding greater transparency in public services and open data, the City of Edmonton's CIO Chris Moore will share the experiences of Canada and across the Americas in a panel debate, which also involves global IT thought leader, Peter Hinseen.

"Getting our open data initiative started was about taking an audacious goal and making it a reality," said Chris Moore.  "Increasing openness is part of the wider 'Gov 2.0 / Open Gov' movement and, even though the initiative is still at its early stages, we're showing how we can leverage technology to do things differently.  I'm looking forward to engaging with delegates from the UK at Beyond 2010 so we can learn from each other in this emerging area, but one that is here to stay."

Delegates at the concurrent events in Seoul and Edmonton will learn from Birmingham City Council's innovations, which put it at the forefront of digital technology in public services in the UK. 

Glyn Evans, Corporate Director of Business Change, Birmingham City Council said: "We're delighted to have the opportunity through Follow the Sun to share what we've achieved through transformation programmes such as Customer First that are reforming the way the council operates from top to bottom - and will deliver £1.5bn savings.

One of the nine projects that collectively form the largest ever business transformation programmes ever undertaken by a local authority, Customer First is simplifying and improving the interface between citizens and the council.

By changing the channels citizens use to access services, Customer First is already delivering benefits for the council and its residents, according to Glyn Evans.  “It is self-financing and will result in far better customer service,” he said.  “Birmingham residents can now log onto the city council website and create their own citizen account, which shows a summary of all their dealings with the council - allowing them to do anything from checking when the council will recover a dumped car they reported to paying their Council Tax.”

Organised by Birmingham City Council as part of its city-wide Digital Birmingham initiative, Beyond 2010 takes place at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre as part of Hello Digital Week, which runs from 18 - 22 October and comprises a number of events celebrating the city’s and the region's technological achievements against the best in the world.

More information and online booking is at www.beyond-2010.com