The CIOs from left to right: Mexico’s Carlos Viniegra, Steven VanRoekel of the United States, and Corinne Charette of Canada.
By Guest Blogger Darlene Meskell, Director, Global Government Innovation Networks
What if all the governments of North America could leverage the power of information technology to jointly attack transcontinental problems of public health and safety instantaneously and at very little cost? The spread of disease and the proliferation of criminal activities would be more tightly controlled, 3-way information exchange could be replicated in many areas of government, and new trusted working relationships would blossom across the continent.
The GSA Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies sponsors a tri-lateral group, which has undertaken a number of joint projects to address just such issues that by their nature cannot be contained within national boundaries. Along the way, it is building trusted relationships and information-exchange models, and boosting collaboration among the three countries.
The group of about 30 senior government IT officials, led by the Chief Information Officers of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, has met since 2001 at an annual “North American Day” summit, in which they share information, ideas and insights. Its impact has grown since the 2011 meeting in Mexico City, when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed formalizing the three countries’ collective intent to conduct cooperative activities in the areas of information sharing and interoperability.
Two project teams launched then demonstrated at this year’s meeting in August that they can connect public health and public safety information-exchange systems across the US, Canada and Mexico. These unprecedented connections enable the rapid and reliable exchange of information about public health alerts on food-borne illnesses and stolen vehicles and lay the groundwork for future exchanges in other areas.
Building on its success, the North American Day collaborators initiated several more ambitious projects, which I’ll discuss in future posts.
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7 comments
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Brand Niemann says:
October 9, 2012 at 7:24 pm (UTC -5 )
Lisa, I have some reservations about this activity and have expressed them in my Blogs: http://semanticommunity.info/Information_Sharing_Environment
Thank you for providing a place where we can comment.
Brand
Robert Salko says:
September 27, 2012 at 7:12 pm (UTC -5 )
Technology is a double edge sword. If not handled properly can will do more harm then good.
Contract Development says:
September 13, 2012 at 10:34 am (UTC -5 )
The better transfer of knowledge by whatever means is a good thing!
biber hapi says:
September 13, 2012 at 8:05 am (UTC -5 )
Use of technology in governance and public life is the need of the hour. Technology can save costs and make properous life. This should be embraced as an integral part of life.
Sachin Kekhlekar says:
September 12, 2012 at 12:39 pm (UTC -5 )
Use of technology in governance and public life is the need of the hour. Technology can save costs and make properous life. This should be embraced as an integral part of life.
Leah Bannon says:
September 12, 2012 at 9:55 am (UTC -5 )
Great post! Check out our similar post about North America Day by David McClure, Associate Administrator of GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies: North America Day Collaboration Strengthens Public Health and Safety.
Lisa Nelson says:
September 13, 2012 at 9:14 am (UTC -5 )
Thanks Leah. I saw that post yesterday and thought it was great.
International Collaboration on Digital Government » blog.howto.gov says:
October 2, 2012 at 9:26 am (UTC -5 )
[...] International Information Sharing Delivers [...]