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Listening locally launches world-leading services

Overcoming limited resources and a lack of focus among local authorities has helped to make the UK a world leader in eGovernment services.

Professor Zahir Irani, led research for two projects funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) to identify ways to improve eGovernment services based on the specific needs of stakeholders.

Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis and national workshops, the first project, Network for eGovernment Integration and Systems Evaluation (eGISE) highlighted the lack of a standard framework for measuring the success of the digital services.

The second project, Virtual Institute for Electronic Government Research (VIEGO), consisted of five workshops in London, Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh targeting stakeholder groups which showed that departing from previous eGovernment research and focusing on the views of stakeholders at grass-root level would bring greater success.

The research led to the publication of a White Paper report, Project VIEGO – Electronic Transformation of Government in the UK: A Research Agenda’ which was circulated to 500 local authorities and non-Government organisations.

Ten articles relating to the research were later printed in the trade media, while the results of the studies have led to further research collaborations between Brunel and other governments, including Turkey, Lebanon and Qatar.