As Australian governments look to embrace the possibilities of Web 2.0 technologies, the potential spin-offs for agile firms are expanding.
The application of emerging ICT technologies to the business of government has been on the public radar since the establishment of the Gov 2.0 Taskforce, whose report Engage: Getting on With Government 2.0 was tabled on December 22nd of last year. With Federal ministers widely embrace the report, the implications of an evolving online integration of government services and data are gradually percolating outwards.
Of particular relevance to the private sector is the potential generated by rapidly-expanding public use of 3G and other data provision systems as an emerging medium of communication and engagement between government departments and citizens. Smartphones, devices designed to harness the enormous expansion of mobile data and bandwith, represent a significant platform for innovation in service delivery. Government interest and encouragement in the form of a variety of competitions such Victoria’s ‘App My State’ have seen a strong response from developers, for whom the creation of path-breaking applications provides new potential markets in adding value to public data. Recent media coverage has highlighted the success of Food Advisor Australia, an application developed by Mogeneration that harnesses open data from the NSW Food Authority and Greenpeace to profile food outlets and restaurants.
However, the expansion of mobile data use heralded by the increasing commercial opportunities offered by a Government 2.0 framework also raises new challenges for Australia’s ICT infrastructure. While some developments, such as the National Broadband Network, have focused on need to expand data provision, increased data traffic also implies increased demand for secure and reliable storage. In this area too, Federal initiatives also promise new opportunities for commercial engagement. It has been reported that Canberra plans to engage in a significant expansion of data centre infrastructure, with private sector contracting via AusTender expected later in 2010.
