Tecnimap 2010

Awards: General information

The TECNIMAP Awards for eGovernment projects have become one of the elements of the Conferences which create the greatest expectation, and they have seen a high level of participation in previous editions. As a new feature in the 2010 edition, a new specific category has been created to recognise an outstanding European project or experience either from a European Union institution or one of the EU Member States. This all opens up the field to a much wider participation, making the Awards presented at Zaragoza the first of their kind within a Europeanist framework.

The awards were created at the beginning of 2004 as another incentive mechanism to develop innovative, simpler and more efficient services based on information technology. The creation order (APU/198/2004, 28 January) justifies them as “official support of good practices in eGovernment matters” and they are associated to TECNIMAP as a complement to the disclosure action and exchange of ideas and already established references of the Conference.

These awards are presented to the best initiative from Public Administrations in the application of information technologies to the improvement of public services provision. Those eServices which have already been implemented on the date of the presentation of the candidacies but have been functioning for under two years - the normal cycle of the Conferences - are eligible for the awards .

The current edition of the TECNIMAP Awards are defined by the European eAdministration guidelines that had their most recent manifestation in the Malmö Ministerial Declaration of 18 November 2009. In this declaration the European Union indicates that eAdministration services as decisive elements for overcoming social, economic, and environmental challenges which the European societies will be facing until 2015.

Also, the European Union presidency, assumed by Spain in the first quarter of 2010, must encourage and coordinate policies to strengthen citizens and businesses in their relations with Public Administrations, thus fostering transparency and participation.

No less important in the philosophy of the Awards is the development and implementation of all the provisions of Law 11/2007, which covers the electronic access by citizens to Public Administrations as an instrument which facilitates the electronic relations between citizens and governments. Its entry into force on 31 December 2009 has meant adapting all services and procedures in all Public Administrations to meet the provisions of the new law.

Public Administrations depend on the good functioning of their technological infrastructure and the quality of their information systems in order to provide services to citizens and companies. The evolution of public administrations in recent years has permitted certain administration concepts to be incorporated into the organisational structure, which is why it is necessary to consider other areas to contribute different added values. Innovation, when understood to mean the generation and exploitation of creativity and new ideas designed to increase public value, is an essential part of improving public administration.

In parallel to this growing importance of eAdministration in the public sector, the Conference on Information Technology for the Modernisation of Public Administration has been gaining relevance and public impact with each edition. This forum for the exchange of ideas and good practices between public employees from all Governments, the private sector, academics, and experts, is today an essential reference in our country for anyone interested in the evolution of Public Administration, and for this reason it is the perfect setting for these awards.