Digitization of the public sector: the mitten is becoming a thumb

Digitization eHealth Welfare technology

It will soon be 18 months since the Government and SALAR presented a joint vision for eHealth, which states that "Sweden will be the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitization and eHealth to help people achieve good and equal health and welfare and develop and strengthen their own resources for increased independence and participation in society" by 2025. Beautiful words and a very good intention, but what has actually been done to realize it so far?

  • Do we have national knowledge of the regulations and standards we need to master to build a digital future and a digital welfare sector?
  • What are we doing to influence, within the EU, existing and emerging standards for industry to build future digital products and services on?
  • Have we made progress in our thinking about the future of public-private remuneration models?

The answers to these and other crucial questions are far away, and while 2025 is still some way off, many of us are very frustrated to see so few visible results. Unfortunately, there is little to suggest that this frustration will be resolved 18 months from now.

Because the simple truth is that visions alone do not create change. Instead, it takes management by objectives and follow-up, work and perseverance to achieve what we all strive for. And above all, governance that bridges the fragmented reality that is the consequence of municipal autonomy. If we do not soon achieve a clear, tangible national leadership where someone actually points with the whole hand in the digitization issue, we as a welfare society will be irreparably overtaken by many, both large and small, nations. And not least by time.

National leadership on digitization must also include a greater focus on the issue of standardization which cannot be overemphasized: without technical and semantic interoperability that also facilitates innovation and development, the digitization of the public sector will fail.

The digitization of the public sector has the potential to become the central test bed that will take Sweden forward in the global transformation race that is now underway. But to succeed, we must take the issue more seriously. Move from words and visions to action. Collaborate across borders, parties and Oxensian management models. If not, there is a very real risk that the promised mitten will be no more than a thumb, or at worst just a red or green thread. Not much for a country to warm itself in.