Digital evolution is happening in Montgomery County

In Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, we have taken the next step in building upon an already strong digital presence by launching our new openMontgomery platform.

The platform consists of a series of tools that improve government transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, service efficiency and effectiveness, community engagement and collaboration, public-private service coordination, and economic development. One of the keys to this initiative is to leverage the growing ecosystem of open county governments and open government practices that all jurisdictions can share, exchange, and advance.

As the new Chief Innovation Officer for the County, I’ve entered into a very enviable position. The County has elected leadership committed to advancing the use of these tools. County Council member Hans Riemer has taken the lead on digital government from our legislative branch, while County Executive Isiah Leggett has embraced these concepts from the executive branch. The County also has a forward-thinking technology services group working on these tools. Led by Sonny Segal, our Chief Information Officer, this group has unveiled the first step in what will be a digital evolution of county services. My role as Chief Innovation Officer will include helping the community and our County departments realize the full value of these tools.

The open government framework that Montgomery County has advanced places our openMontgomery platform in a broader context. The framework promotes collaboration with other open government initiatives and with the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More. It will strengthen and increase civic use of innovation, cross-collaboration, and improved accountability through open government initiatives. Through our partnerships, we hope to strengthen our ability to advocate for jurisdictions working with state governments, the White House, and Congress to expand funding to initiatives that direct resources to harness the capabilities of governments in developing regional industries, innovation, and export clusters.

Please take a moment and visit http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/open to see our current openMontgomery toolset. In the future we will add an innovation portal to highlight specific innovation projects we’re working on that not only deal with technology, but social and civic innovations as well. Feel free to contact me with any feedback or ideas you may have.

Image credit: Information Super Highway from TimonthyH75 via Flickr