Last week the civil service published a new strategy to help government seize the opportunities and meet the challenges of managing knowledge and information in a digital era. The document, titled ‘Information matters: building government’s capability in managing knowledge and information’, has been led by the Knowledge Council and will help develop the framework, tools and capabilities for knowledge and information management.

In order to gauge the significance of this issue, one must only imagine how things will transform over the next 50, 10 or even just five years. As Gordon Brown said, “this is the century of information. Our ability to compete in the global economy, to protect ourselves against crime and terrorist attack, depends not just on natural wealth or on walls or fences but on our ability to use information.”

The strategy begins with the recognition that knowledge and information management is a government function of the same importance and gravity as finance, IT and communications. In this sense, the document reflects the twin concepts of the ‘information society’ and the ‘knowledge economy’ – the notion that resources such as know-how and expertise are as critical as other economic resources in a world of information.

Much of the strategy is concerned with how the Government can improve the value of knowledge and information held as well as how it can be shared and pooled. Professionalism, as always, is essential here, and amongst the document’s key actions one indeed finds the recommendation to develop a professionalism programme to support knowledge and information management as a key corporate function of government.

Like Transformational Government, effecting these changes is about culture and process as much as technology. Nonetheless, the technology industry can play a role in helping the Government as it devises its timetable for change (due in April 2009). Last year, Intellect’s Information Sharing Group provided input to the strategy via a joint workshop with the Knowledge Council. Next year, we hope to assist the Council as it begins to deliver those envisaged changes across Government.

By Sebastian Fox, Programme Executive