Under the direction of Gerhard Hammerschmid, the Centre conducts research on digitalisation (and artificial intelligence) in government as well as the effects of digitalisation in authoritarian regimes, regulation of platform economies and digital capacities. It combines:
- A public policy/governance perspective with issues such as government-business relations, regulation and ethical implications of digitalisation
- A public management/administration perspective with a focus on transforming government (policy, service delivery) through digitalisation.
The Centre for Digital Governance cooperates closely with the School’s Data Science Lab directed by Slava Jankin.
The Centre explores perspectives of a European governance approach to digitalisation as an alternative to China's authoritarian and the US-American business-driven governance models, contributing to the development of "good statesmanship" in the digital age. In order to achieve this, the Centre combines evidence-based analyses of digitalisation phenomena with insights from good governance and normative standards to assess the impact of policies. It takes an interdisciplinary, intersectoral and collaborative approach, from a global perspective that aspires to bridge informational gaps between policy areas and geographies.
Initially, the Centre will address four sets of interrelated questions:
- What is the relationship between government, business, and society in digital governance? Who is setting the rules of the game in the digital world?
- How can digitalisation be steered in a direction that improves public well-being while at the same time reaping its benefits? What is the right mix between government, business, and society in the governance of digitalisation? Does this mix differ with respect to different aspects of digitalisation?
- How can digitalisation foster innovations with regard to policy making and public service delivery and drive government transformation? How to develop public management reform and state capacities (e.g. delivery, coordination, regulatory and analytical capacities) to overcome the challenges of digitalisation?
- Which ethical standards and framework(s) are helpful to assess policy initiatives in the area of digital governance? Do the principles of good governance need to be adopted? How do we operationalise them? Are there any new normative principles that are relevant?
- We aim to educate both a new generation of digital natives as well as (young) professionals in the public sector facing digital transformations.
- Our courses offer a broad range of tools necessary to face the challenges that digitalisation poses for governance successfully, as well as to understand the interplay between government, business and the wider society in governing digitalisation.
- Our teaching is interdisciplinary, applied and innovative.
Please find an overview of the courses our faculty currently teaches below:
- Open government and open data | E1317
- Open data and digital state capacity
- Digital state capacities | E1270
- Digital governance
- Digital governance in China: how to pitch high-quality data to non-governmental actors | P1045
- New media, democracy, and stability | E1249
The Centre's research focus is reflected in its outreach. Please take a look at the events section for further information about upcoming events.