France's top rank in the 2014 UN E-Government Development Index was commended last week by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Undesa). “As in previous years, the 2014 Survey shows that Europe, led by France, continues to achieve the highest regional e-government index.”
The award was presented as part of Undesa's Global e-Government Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 7 - 8 October. It was received on behalf of the French government by Etalab, the open data task force, set up by the Secretariat General for the Modernization of Public Administration.
France was praised for its innovative public services, including data.gouv.fr - the inter-ministerial open data portal, for its appointment of a Chief Data Officer and for emphasising the use of open source software in the public sector, Etalab writes.
The Undesa conference was attended by about a thousand participants, representing 79 countries. Head of Innovation at Etalab, Claire-Marie Foulquier Gazagnes gave an overview of France’s e-government strategy. She said that the digital revolution is a challenge for governments, by changing the way citizens interact with the public administration, by creating alternatives for the delivery of public services and by opening up government data. Etalab is helping France to build a ‘Contributory Commons’, where both government and civil society partner to create a common infrastructure. An example of this is the Base d’Adresse Nationale Ouverte - BANO, Ms Foulquier-Gazagne said. This database of more than 15 million addresses is being built by Etalab and the Openstreet Map community. “We now have 80 per cent of all the French addresses in the database, and we hope to reach 100 per cent in the next months.”
Undesa's Global e-Government Forum is one of the UN initiatives promoting e-government. The annual conference focusses on sustainable development, open government and network society. The organisers also aim to get countries to exchange ideas and experiences.
More information:
Etalab blog on the award (in French)
Global e-Government Forum 2014
Presentation by the French Government's Etalab & Datagouv (pdf)