Steven Luitjens has been Director of the digital government service Logius since 2006. He has been active in the sphere of government innovation and IT since the end of the 1980s.

Arno Thijssen has been Director of the Service Provision, Deregulation & Information Policy program of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations since 2008. Thijssen has worked for a number of years to improve municipal service provision to the public and to promote cooperation between municipal authorities.

eGovernment
Luitjens and Thijssen are Track Leaders of the eGovernment Track. “eGovernment is very extensive. Online service provision by the government for instance, but also making sure that public organizations connect with each other. The key question is how ICT can play a role in accelerating and improving government services. At the same time, a great deal is changing in society. ICT makes society more level, faster and easier. Government organizations have to respond to that. Actually there are two systems: the internet, which is about trust and horizontal relationships, and the government, which is about distrust and vertical relationships. ICT is emerging from its cocoon. It is no longer purely about the ICT applications, but far more about social development. That makes it interesting. The effects will force everyone to change.”  

Improved & Challenged Government
Luitjens and Thijssen chose two key focuses for the track: Improved and Challenged Government. “Improved Government is about the question of how government can be made efficient and effective. How can we run things as well as possible, and how can we manage expectations? Challenged Government is about the changing relationship between the public and government. For instance, one of the themes in the program is called: ‘Hey Gov, can you hear me?’, and is about how social media lead to more independent citizens, who organize things and seek information for themselves.”

ICT taken for granted
“ICT is a broad field that affects us all. Everyone who works in the public sector has to realize that. Ultimately, ICT developments will progress to the point where no-one refers to eGovernment any more. ICT will then become taken for granted and will no longer be confined to a niche. There will be no need for CIOs any more, because CEOs will then be fully aware of what is going on in the ICT field. It will be integrated with the work. Things will reach that point in about 10 years’ time.” The message that Luijtjens and Thijssen want to communicate is “Let everyone take part in developments in the ICT field. It should be a co-production. People should not only consume, but also take part and join the debate on the future.”

Steven Luitjens
Steven Luitjens has been director of the digital government service Logius since June 2006. This is a committee of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Logius offers public service providers a connected ICT infrastructure, so that citizens and companies can do business with them quickly, easily and reliably. Logius supplies products for access, data exchange, information security and standardization.

Luitjens has been active in the government innovation and IT field since the end of the 1980s. From 1989 to 2002 he worked at The Expertise Centre (HEC). From 2002 until his transfer to Logius he worked independently from Contrapunt BV.

Arno Thijssen
Thijssen has been Director of the Service Provision, Deregulation & Information Policy program of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations since November 1 2008. This is a program committee within the Directorate of General Administration and Kingdom Relations. The Committee’s most important assignment is to implement the Cabinet's plans for the improvement of public services.

From 2002 to 2008, Thijssen worked as a town clerk and general manager at Leidschendam-Voorburg municipal authority. He was also active in the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) during this period, in the day-to-day administration of the Association of Town Clerks (VGS), where he was responsible for the services and operational management portfolio, for the Digital Municipalities (EGEM) program and the GovUnited program. Between 1974 and 2001 he held various positions at Zoetermeer municipal authority.

Thijssen has worked for a number of years to improve the provision of digital municipal public services and to promote cooperation between municipal authorities. He is propagating this message in his new role too. In his view, authorities have to relinquish competition; the different components ought to strengthen one another, and should work towards a joint role in service provision for the public. This calls for more (digitally) accessible and interactive government.