The table below aims at gathering the administrative and governmental bodies of Norway, which are responsible for digital public administration policies and interoperability policies.
National
The Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Governance is responsible for ICT and public administration policy, electronic communication, government employer policy, central government building and property management. It also has the administrative responsibility for county governors and for the work on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
| Karianne Oldernes Tung Minister of Digitalisation and Public Governance
Contact details: Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Governance Akersgata 59 0032 Oslo, Norway |
The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency is the Norwegian government’s foremost tool for digitalisation of the public sector. The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency operates and develops important national solutions and ensures the strategic coordination of digitalisation in the sector. The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency’s target groups are central and local government authorities, businesses and the third sector, and the general public. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.
The roles as rule-setter within digitalisation, provider of expertise within information security, responsible body for the operation of common IT solutions, and manager of the Altinn cooperation, the Co-Financing Scheme and innovation scheme Stimulab, as well as the Authority for Universal Design of ICT, are all part of the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency.
The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency is the secretariat for several advisory bodies related to digitalisation, including Skate, an advisory body for strategic cooperation on digitalisation of the Norwegian public sector, the Architecture and Standardisation Board, which advises on issues related to standards, interoperability and national architecture, and the Digitalisation Board, which is a voluntary advisory board for digitalisation projects in the public sector.
| Frode Danielsen Director, Norwegian Digitalisation Agency
Contact details: Norwegian Digitalisation Agency Lørenfaret 1C P.O. Box 8115 Dep. 0032 Oslo, Norway Source: http://www.digdir.no/ |
The Department of National ICT Policy and Public Governance of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development is responsible for the work associated with policy implications concerning the prevalence of ICT in the public sector. It has an active, horizontal presence in the implementation process as it is the main body responsible for initiating and administering policies related to ICT and eGovernment.
Since 2016, the Norwegian government has co-financed ICT-projects that are economically profitable through a co-financing scheme for ICT projects. The goal is to realise better and faster digitalisation projects, and to aid the realisation of the government’s Digital Strategy for the Public Sector 2019-2025. The government has an innovation scheme named StimuLab, which aims to promote the user’s perspective in public service innovation. The progress of StimuLab was detailed in a report in October 2020, examining what has been achieved in the four years since StimuLab was launched and the experiences from the 21 projects that had received funding thus far.
The Government Administration Services (DSS) is a government agency aimed at providing synergy for ministries with cost-effective and reliable shared services, including the operation of computer systems. It reports directly to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, which utilises the DSS as a means of improving the way the national government functions.
The objective of Norwegian Centre for Information Security (NorSIS) is to provide advice and guidance on information security in Norway. It seeks to make ICT a natural part of everyday life by raising awareness about threats and vulnerabilities, advising on specific measures and contributing to forming positive attitudes in information.
Norway established a National Cybersecurity Centre in 2019. The Centre has a national responsibility for cyber security, including national level ICT risk assessment. It brings together cyber security expertise from a range of government and private sector entities, law-enforcement bodies and research institutions.
Established in September 2020, the National Resource Centre for Data Sharing works to promote the sharing and reuse of data by disseminating knowledge about relevant regulations and contribute to an efficient and user-oriented public sector that utilises the potential found in data and data sharing to create user-friendly services. The centre is part of the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency and will facilitate innovation, development of new services and value creation by sharing data between public activities and between the public and private sector and researchers. The Centre was developed as part of a commitment made in the One Digital Public Sector digitisation strategy.
One key component of the Centre is the national toolbox for data sharing, launched in January 2021. The toolbox is an overview of agreements, solutions, standards, architectures, regulatory support and guidelines for roles and responsibilities that are relevant when sharing data. It is presented as a customised process guide for the main target groups: data consumers and data providers and aims to help them in their user journey.
The Brønnøysund Registry Centre (Brønnøysundregistrene) is a Norwegian government body responsible for the management of numerous public registers in Norway and is subordinate to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. The registries it governs include:
- The Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities;
- The Registry of Business Enterprises;
- The Registry of Company Accounts;
- The Registry of the Reporting Obligations of Enterprises;
- The Registry of Mortgaged Moveable Property;
- The Registry of Bankruptcies;
- The Registry of Marriage Settlements; and
- The Registry of Political Parties.
Since 2017, the Brønnøysund Register Centre has been developing a new registry platform called BRsys. The platform is an important solution for the digital communication between businesses, citizens and the government in Norway. In the autumn of 2020, an important milestone was reached: the launch of the first service developed on the new platform. The Business Compensation Scheme, a government measure to mitigate the financial effects of the COVID-19 public health crisis and the infection control measures was also realised in part using the new registry platform.
The Data Protection Agency is an independent administrative body which is entrusted with the application of data protection laws. It verifies organisations’ compliance on processing personal data, regulates the processing of sensitive data through licences and advises on matters concerning the protection of privacy.
The Privacy Appeals Board is the appeal body for decisions made by the Data Protection Agency. It considers appeals against decisions made by the Data Protection Agency pursuant to the Personal Data Act and several other acts.
Digital21 was initiated by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry following the recommendations in the industrial report ‘Industry – Greener, Smarter and More Innovative’ (Meld. St. 27 (2016-2017). Digital21 is a government-elected committee that gives advice and recommendations to authorities on how to facilitate business development and utilise new expertise, technology and research through digitalisation. The purpose is to create a strategy across industries and fields of expertise, where key actors pursue common goals and apply recommended measures.
The long-term goal of Digital21 is to support and accelerate digitalisation for businesses. To do so, Digital21 has identified six areas of significant importance:
- Emerging technologies;
- Research, development and innovation;
- Competence;
- Computer resources and infrastructure;
- Safety; and
- Public framework.
Digital21 has established expert groups in each of these six areas.
The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) is an association of municipalities and counties contributing to ICT development by: protecting municipal interests with respect to central authorities, suppliers and other interest groups; contributing to the development of standards and requirement specifications for the exchange of information, integration of solutions and joint tools, ideally in cooperation with central authorities; inspiring and contributing to competence development in the municipal sector through proposals and recommendations, benchmarking, development of guidelines and establishing experience exchange networks.
The KS holds regular meetings with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, at political and administrative levels. It also participates in several boards, committees and working committees in other ministries and various government departments that deal with ICT issues.