Covid-19 has opened the doors for Gov Tech 3.0

The government should now focus on creating digital commons, while ensuring robust privacy protection

Technology and collaboration are the mantras that many hope will help the world turn the tide against Covid-19. The public health ecosystem has demonstrated unprecedented collaboration among scientists, governments and medical companies, sharing everything from epidemiological data to software and design files to develop a vaccine and manufacture-testing equipment.

Could this crisis be the trigger for a new era of technology collaboration among citizens, businesses and governments to solve the gravest problems of our times? The initial signs are promising. Governments are deploying technology in newer innovative and collaborative ways. For example, many countries, including India, have deployed contact tracing apps developed through public-private partnerships, to prevent the spread of the virus, and are crowd-sourcing relevant information from citizens. Private companies, such as taxi aggregators, are opening up their tech platforms to help the government fight the crisis by tracking crowds in real-time.

This crisis seems to have become a laboratory for the dawn of a new era of what we will call Gov Tech 3.0. While 1.0 was the era of “computerisation” of manual processes such as putting income tax forms online, 2.0 was about building systems which digitised end-to-end processes, for example, the government’s “e-office” file management system. GovTech 3.0 is focussed on Open Digital Ecosystems (ODEs), the underlying philosophy of which is for governments to move away from being a builder of end-to-end tech solutions towards becoming a facilitator by creating digital infrastructure on which innovators can collaboratively build solutions for the public good.

A good analogy to understand this shift is the physical infrastructure of cities. Building “commons” is done by the government through public funding and engagement. This includes the construction of roads, drainage systems, parks and mass transit systems. If built and governed well, this is the “platform” on which businesses and individuals then create the vibrant ecosystem of activities that make up our urban life and are visible to us as we interact and transact with others in the city. Similarly, the ODE approach suggests that the government should focus on creating the “digital commons”; enable interoperability between siloed systems, so that innovators can build solutions on top, by leveraging what technologists call open-source software, open standards, and open Application Programming Interface (APIs).

Several path-breaking ODEs are already in play in India: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the financial services space; the

National Digital Health Blueprint that imagines a radically different public health ecosystem; the National Digital Infrastructure for Teachers called DIKSHA; the National Urban Innovation Stack which is enabling more efficient provision of municipal services; and a digital ecosystem for agriculture which is being designed by an inter-ministerial committee.

In the wake of Covid-19, we can take this thinking further. Could we create a “social protection ODE”, through which migrant workers can access State benefits irrespective of where they are? This could be enabled through an interoperable tech architecture connecting disparate state and department tech systems and apps, built by innovators, enabling migrants to get real-time information about and access to their entitlements.

ODEs are not just a different way of delivering government services — they are a different way of imagining the citizen-State relationship. ODEs enable the rapid scaling of solutions, through modular technologybuilding blocks, that can be deployed in multiple contexts by ensuring interoperability across platforms. This can shift the balance of power in favour of citizens.

While ODEs empower and enable collaboration in unprecedented ways, many worry that such interconnected digital networks may make us more vulnerable to harm, with dispersed accountability and possible violation of individual privacy. These concerns are heightened when the power of digital platforms is combined with the coercive power of the State. In the Covid-19 context, we see that in some countries, mobile phone location data, thermal imaging drones, and cyber tech normally used in counterterrorism, are being integrated and deployed for surveillance of citizens. The curtailment of personal freedoms may be acceptable to the public during a crisis, but the worry is that once such technology is out there, it may be impossible to roll it back.

This issue — that with high-stakes benefits come high-stakes risks— is central to the ODE debate. Designing privacy-protecting and secure databases is critical. The invisible rules that are coded into “tech” need to be made transparent through thoughtful design principles, legislation, governance frameworks and public engagement. For example, having accountable institutions behind these ODEs, and robust grievance redressal mechanisms is critical for their success. Making sure the design is citizencentric and ensures inclusive access to services at the last mile will help drive adoption and sustain these ecosystems.

A recent government white paper put out on mygov.in has invited public consultation on some of these critical open questions around National ODEs. The design choices India makes today, not just in terms of the technology and data architecture, but also in terms of governance architecture and community engagement around ODEs, will determine how we collaborate to build a more resilient and empowered India.