NEW DIRECTIONS for GOVERNMENT in the SECOND ERA of the DIGITAL AGE Strategy, Policy, and Action for the Biden-Harris Administration Don Tapscott and Anthony D
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IN COLLABORATION WITH NEW DIRECTIONS FOR GOVERNMENT IN THE SECOND ERA OF THE DIGITAL AGE Strategy, Policy, and Action for the Biden-Harris Administration Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, Co-Authors, Wikinomics Kirsten Sandberg, Editor-in-Chief, Blockchain Research Institute Foreword by Tony Scott, former Federal CIO of the United States February 2021 A BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH INSTITUTE SPECIAL REPORT Realizing the new promise of the digital economy In 1994, Don Tapscott coined the phrase, “the digital economy,” with his book of that title. It discussed how the Web and the Internet of information would bring important changes in business and society. Today the Internet of value creates profound new possibilities. In 2017, Don and Alex Tapscott launched the Blockchain Research Institute to help realize the new promise of the digital economy. We research the strategic implications of blockchain technology and produce practical insights to contribute global blockchain knowledge and help our members navigate this revolution. Our findings, conclusions, and recommendations are initially proprietary to our members and ultimately released to the public in support of our mission. To find out more, please visitwww.blockchainresearchinstitute.org . Blockchain Research Institute, 2021 Except where otherwise noted, this work is copyrighted 2021 by the Blockchain Research Institute and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License. To view a copy of this license, send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA, or visit creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode. This document represents the views of its author(s), not necessarily those of Blockchain Research Institute or the Tapscott Group. This material is for informational purposes only; it is neither investment advice nor managerial consulting. Use of this material does not create or constitute any kind of business relationship with the Blockchain Research Institute or the Tapscott Group, and neither the Blockchain Research Institute nor the Tapscott Group is liable for the actions of persons or organizations relying on this material. Users of this material may copy and distribute it as is under the terms of this Creative Commons license and cite it in their work. This document may contain material (photographs, figures, and tables) used with a third party’s permission or under a different Creative Commons license; and users should cite those elements separately. All images downloaded and used under terms in effect on 29 Jan. 2021. Otherwise, we suggest the following citation: Don Tapscott, Anthony Williams, and Kirsten Sandberg, “New Directions for Government in the Second Era of the Digital Age: Strategy, Policy, and Action for the Biden-Harris Administration,” foreword by Tony Scott, Blockchain Research Institute, 9 Feb. 2021, revised. To request permission for remixing, transforming, building upon the material, or distributing any derivative of this material for any purpose, please contact the Blockchain Research Institute, www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org/contact-us, and put “Permission request” in subject line. Thank you for your interest! Contents Foreword 4 Executive summary 6 Creating strategy and policy for the digital age: It’s time for a turn in America 6 Five digital priorities 7 High-level commitment to digital transformation 10 Introduction 11 The legacy of the Trump-Pence administration 12 Digital priorities for the Biden-Harris administration 14 1. Entering the second era of the digital age 16 Digital transformation in government 18 The next wave of digital transformation 19 Shining a spotlight on the dark side: A call for regulation 24 2. Ensuring security, equality, and autonomy for all 26 Forming a coalition to secure cyberspace 27 Bridging the digital divide 30 Giving people control over their data and identities 33 3. Embracing the digital dollar and other cryptocurrencies 37 How digital currency differs from digital payments systems 38 Three types of digital currencies 39 The regulatory and market environment 44 A regulatory framework that supports innovation 47 The US dollar as a global digital reserve currency 51 4. Retooling government services 52 A Digital Marshall Plan to upgrade the user experience 53 The payoff of cultural transformation 64 Next steps for digital service transformation 67 5. Engaging citizens, holding officials accountable 69 Participatory democracy: A pathway to genuine citizen engagement 70 Twelve tools for digital engagement 74 Next steps in reinvigorating democracy in the United States 77 6. Rebooting America’s innovation economy 80 Building a robust start-up support infrastructure 82 Addressing gaps in venture capital 88 Growing America’s entrepreneurial talent pool 92 Next steps for fostering an inclusive digital economy 95 7. The path to digital government 96 About the authors 101 About the Blockchain Research Institute 103 About the Chamber of Digital Commerce 103 Notes 104 NEW DIRECTIONS FOR GOVERNMENT Foreword Every time there is a change of administration, there is a unique opportunity to change the course of action with respect to how the US government conducts its business. It is a time when the leaders of the entire executive branch changes, and the leadership team focuses on new initiatives and priorities. The new team should not waste these transitions. Nor should those who support the US government in various roles—federal contractors, lobbyists, nonprofits, and so forth—take a wait-and-see approach to matters of urgency. Most urgent is the poor condition of federal government information technology (IT) systems, collectively a patchwork of old technologies with layers of modern ones. The modern technologies represent sincere attempts to improve utility and user interfaces but fall short in overall functionality, effective cybersecurity, cost of ownership, and agility. Most efforts to date have had the effect of putting fresh paint on a crumbling and expensive-to-maintain foundation. The recently revealed breach of multiple federal government IT systems through a third-party software vendor, SolarWinds, underscores the urgency. While no one fully knows the extent of the harm from this breach, we do know that the breach was widespread (affecting dozens of federal agencies), and that the perpetrators (widely believed to be Russian agents) had plenty of time (several months) to wander around government systems undetected.1 These details should alarm everyone and create a sense of urgency to act decisively and forcefully. While recent administrations (Bush, Obama, and Trump) have made some progress in addressing these issues, even the most optimistic viewer would characterize progress as falling far short of As the world digitizes the need. As the world digitizes nearly every consumer and business nearly every consumer experience, federal systems are increasingly out of step with the and business experience, expectations of US citizens. federal systems are increasingly out of step The US federal government spends more than $90 billion per year on with the expectations of federal IT, and most of that (> 90%) goes toward “keeping the lights 2 US citizens. on.” Not only is this ratio out of line with what we would typically find in any large commercial enterprise, but it hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years. Benchmarking studies have found that the modern large enterprise spends 60 percent to 80 percent of its IT budget on operations and maintenance, with the remainder allocated to development of new and expanded capabilities or even a complete refresh of existing capabilities for improved economics.3 Any enterprise needs both new capabilities and a refresh of existing infrastructure and applications to remain competitive and relevant. 4 © 2021 BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEW DIRECTIONS FOR GOVERNMENT I’ve worked with Don Tapscott and his team for many years in my role as an executive at General Motors, The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft Corporation, and VMware, and as chief information officer for the US government during the last two years of the Obama administration. I’ve found Don’s writing and research to be thought provoking, timely, prescient, and above all actionable: I could formulate a strategy for mobilizing my team and make progress on critical issues we were facing in my organization. My hope is that this latest collection of ideas from Don and his co-authors can serve to jump-start a new approach to bringing government IT systems into a more modern, secure, agile, and cost- effective state. As the author team points out, the opportunity space goes way beyond the technology that runs the federal government. Digital transformation and digital access are much bigger ideas than the underlying technology. Citizen engagement, stakeholder participation, process transparency, and utilization of data are fundamental building blocks (among others) of a truly digitized and transformed enterprise. And so it is also my hope that readers will take a step back and look at the bigger impact that these transformative ideas can have for a better government, a better It is my hope that readers economy, a healthier world, and a better environment. will take a step back and look at the bigger impact Finally, I want to note that one of the most important themes in the that these transformative report is the need to prioritize and dramatically grow the numbers ideas can have for a better and skill levels of people engaged in the gov-tech enterprise—not only people who work directly for the federal government but also government, a better those in private sector enterprise and in the small businesses economy, a healthier world, supporting the federal government. In my experience, these are and a better environment. some of the most dedicated, smart, and resourceful people I’ve encountered in my career, but they are vastly under-resourced for the challenges they face. Now is the time to make sure that our “people power” is not why anyone or any group tries to take advantage of us as a country or as a leader in the world.