This exciting session set the scene in how an entrepreneurial mindset can transform public service delivery. We heard from Alexander as he shared his journey from private entrepreneur to public entrepreneur in the development of Scottish Government’s award-winning government innovation programmes. Through leveraging the network of the international CivTech Alliance, these programmes have delivered solid impact locally and globally. 

Helping him unpack the competencies and behaviours required to excel in this area was Mie Weile, Deputy Director DTU Compute. Through her establishment of the Tech4Civ department within DTU, Mie drew parallels between the experiences from Scotland and Denmark. Alexander and Mie discussed why a digital mindset is essential for public servants looking to progress. This session was a must for public servants looking for personal inspiration in how we can better serve citizens now and in the future. 

Alexander has worked for the Scottish Government since 2014. Between 2015-2019 he established the Scottish Government's CivTechⓇ Programme, Europe’s first GovTech programme. In that time he won/shortlisted for numerous awards including winning the Leadership Award at the Scottish Public Service Awards. In 2020 he set up the CivTech Alliance – a global network of similar government teams and that year was named as one of the Top 20 global leaders in GovTech. In 2021, he was listed in World Economic Forum's Agile 50 list - 50 global leaders navigating disruption. That same year, he designed and delivered the CivTech Alliance Global Scale Up Programme which won Apolitical’s Global Public Service Team of the Year - Climate Award. He is a massive believer in harnessing the power of the entrepreneurial mindset to transform public service delivery.

Mie Weile, Deputy Director with special responsibility for the Tech4Civ strategy and PhD student, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, The Technical University of Denmark. Mie is co-founder of the Tech4Civ strategy and the anti-helix methodology based on anti-disciplinary pioneering research. Mie’s PhD “Bridging for the future - how digital competence development can accelerate innovation in public organizations” is central in understanding what competencies are needed in the future and the role of universities. Mie has extensive experience with digital transformation in public and private organizations, developing and driving digital competency courses at executive, leader, and employee level. Mie’s research on the CivTechAlliance Global Scale Up programme, aims at understanding what skills it takes to enable cross-governmental collaboration on innovation to solve complex societal challenges and has been published in the International GSUP report 2022, “Building a Cross-Border Government Innovation Programme”. 

Moderator 

Digital strategist and GovTech specialist. Dedicated to establish a strong public-private GovTech collaboration and partnership aiming at transforming the public sector by adapting innovative ideas and new technologies. Associated partner, Think Tank Mandag Morgen. Former Managing Director of PUBLIC Danmark, a UK based digital think thank and consultancy house helping startups and small tech companies to engage with the public sector and is  Former Head of Digitalisation and IT Strategy at the Danish Ministry of Taxation. Adviser at the Digital Taskforce of the Danish Ministry of Finance and member of the Steering Committee of the Danish National Digitalisation Strategy. 20+ years of govt experience in Denmark and international organisations including UN HQ in New York.