Season 3, Ep.8: The Davos Talks, 2020 - Tomicah Tillemann: How can the public and private sectors, and civil society, create valuable digital public goods?

Every January, The World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The goal is to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. As part of our “Davos Talks 2020 ” series, Jeffrey Saviano is bringing us 6 episodes from and inspired by his time in Davos. 

Government agencies across the globe are tackling 21st century problems with outdated systems — and it’s little wonder that the associated public trust is at an all-time low. In today’s episode, Jeff explores open-source innovation in the public sector with Tomicah Tillemann, Executive Director of the Digital Impact and Governance Initiative (DIGI) at New America.

Tomicah explains how collaborative open-source platforms can help the public sector effectively administer taxes, better allocate resources, and fight corruption. According to Tomicah, strategic partnerships with the private sector and civil society can help governments fund, develop and implement new technologies — allowing them to better serve evolving public needs and restore trust in their programs.