Virtual Town Hall Meeting - Citizen Data in Focus: Machine Learning and Data Analytics for Citizen Support and Government Savings

What if data analytics provided a way to keep citizens out of financial trouble and save government money in one go? The case study on welfare fraud analytics in Denmark has shown how the data mining unit (Den Fælles Dataenhed) of Udbetaling Danmark, the welfare benefits administrator in Denmark has made this possible. In only five years’ time, the unit has rendered impressive results in the fight against welfare fraud and error through the development and application of a variety of data analytics methods and a close collaboration with public-sector partners. Its unique approach is provoking a transition from tracing and reclaiming wrongful benefits payments to early error detection and preventing citizen debt. In 2019, a revenue equivalent to €61.9 million was realised, of which €43.1 million through early intervention.

Just a few days before the SEMIC 2020 conference, the European Commission's annual summit on interoperability, Annika M. Jacobsen, head of the data mining unit joins this Virtual Town Hall Meeting to share how her unit has been able to steadily increase its revenues while realising a paradigm shift from controlling fraudulent citizens to supporting citizens in the administrative maze of the Danish welfare system. She will take participants on a journey of growth in data, analytical techniques, skilled data professionals, collaboration and above all: tangible impact. What can we learn from the Danish approach? How can we scale up data driven public services across Europe? Seth van Hooland, programme manager for interoperability at DG informatics, will offer a tour d'horizon of the European Commission's priorities and the upcoming SEMIC conference.

High-Level Speakers: 

• Annika M. Jacobsen, head, data mining, Udbetaling Danmark
• Seth van Hooland, programme manager, interoperability, DG informatics, European Commission
• Charlotte van Ooijen, research fellow, digital government, the Lisbon Council

If you would like to join this highly interactive online meeting, kindly drop a note to rsvp@lisboncouncil.net at your earliest convenience with "citizen data in focus" in the subject heading. Only registered participants will have access to the meeting.