Digital Governance Awards Competition - Greece

The Institution of the Digital Governance Awards rewards public sector bodies or civil servants and officials in Greece, who have designed or implemented, either collectively or individually, innovative and pioneering applications for the digital transformation of public administration and improving the administrative environment within the country. 

It is carried out annually by the Ministry of Digital Governance by awarding prizes to those who want to create and think creatively. Contestants are invited to design or implement effective, innovative and pioneering processes and actions supporting the digital transformation of the country such as:

• the digitalisation and simplification of administrative procedures
• digital accessibility and open access 
• the open availability and re-use of public information
• improving public sector performance digitally or enhancing public accountability and transparency
• improving the digital transformation of entrepreneurship or the business environment and in general.

For this reason, participants should base their proposals on the orientations of the Digital Transformation Paper 2020-2025, the roadmap for Greece’s digital development.

Thematic areas of the Awards

1. Public Administration, Self-Government and Justice: ideas for the better organisation and functioning of public administration or justice, including in the area of civil protection and general security of citizens. 
2. Economy, Development and Entrepreneurship: ideas for rural development, tourism, shipping, investment, openness, innovation, industry, trade, consumer protection, fiscal and fiscal policy and in general ideas related to improving the business environment and reducing red tape to business;
3. Health and Social Affairs: ideas on health, industrial relations, social security, welfare, human rights, protection of vulnerable groups, family or demographic policy, gender equality and general issues of social cohesion and public health protection;
4. Education and Culture: ideas in the field of education, culture, sport and
5. Citizen Security: ideas that promote or enhance the security of the citizen.

Each of the above award topics is divided into the following 2 sub-categories:

• Better Applied Idea, highlighting winning ideas that have been either in productive or trial run by public bodies and organisations for a period of at least 3 months before the date of start of the submission of applications to the competition concerned; and
• Better New Idea, by awarding ideas that are at conceptual or experimental stage, but not yet in productive or pilot mode.

Finally, there is also the category Special Price Distinction of Digital Transformation, which is divided into two subcategories:

1. Special honorary distinction between the digital transformation of a civil servant or official, with an extremely important contribution to the issues of e-government and digital transformation of the Greek public administration; and
2. Special Honorary Distinction between private, winning ideas from individuals, natural or legal persons in Greece that have been implemented and improved public services or have used public administration data to successfully develop apps.

Special honour shall be awarded by decision of the Secretary-General for Information Systems and Digital Governance of the Ministry of Digital Governance.

In each subcategory, a prize shall be awarded to the first two (2) distinguished proposals, which shall receive for this purpose a prize, which shall be determined by a Joint Ministerial Decision.

The competition for the Digital Governance Awards shall be open to all civil servants or officials with an employment relationship governed by public law or private law of indefinite or fixed-term duration who work in any public body, first or second-level local authorities, as well as legal persons governed by public or private law in the public sector.

The department responsible for organising the competition for the Digital Governance Awards is the Directorate for Digital Strategy of the Directorate-General for Digital Governance of the Secretariat-General for Information Systems and Digital Governance of the Ministry of Digital Governance, assisted for this purpose by the National Documentation and Electronic Content Centre (ECB), a supervised body of the Ministry of Digital Governance.

Context and background

In 2022, they were organised for the first time under the motto “Transforming digitally, changing Greece”. The institution has found a broad resonance and marked the new era in the country’s digital transformation. More than eighty proposals were received and in many categories the candidates ranked equally. For example, one of the winning proposals related to the field of digital skills is the ‘Single Thematic System for the Classification of Data in the Public Sector – Pre-standardisation of the Single Classification System to speak the same language’ of the body ‘Presidency of the Government/Special Secretariat for the Integrated Information System’ (thematic: "Public Administration, Local Government, and Justice").

In 2023, it was organised for the second consecutive year with a view to the openness and digital modernisation of the public administration with more than ninety participants. One of the winning proposals related to the field of digital skills is ‘Upgrading job and CV coupling using Artificial Intelligence’ of the Public Employment Service (DYPA), under the theme: "Economy, Growth and Entrepreneurship". During the staff selection process, the DYPA’s Labour Advisers can take their final decision using the capacities of the Technical Service. This allows them to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the procedure, as well as those of the candidate who have made real use of human, financial and technological resources.

Why is this a good practice?

This initiative targets two target groups: citizens and a specific professional group - civil servants, with the aim of creating the right conditions for everyone to get to know digital technologies. Civil servants interested in participating in the annual competition are invited to take inspiration from the initiatives presented to develop new innovative public processes and approaches. Citizens (i.e. the intended recipients of these benefits), on the other hand, gain an improved understanding of the benefits they can reap through the digital transformation of the Greek State, and are encouraged to carry out more digital transactions and use extensively the online governmental platform and digitalised public services. 

The competition promotes the development of advanced digital skills, and supports the exchange of know-how to speed up the development of innovative solutions and applications for the Greek public sector. Through is creative approach to traditional administration and bureaucracy, the Awards Competition consolidates the idea that digital technologies are akin to working and living in Greek and European society overall. 

The initiative supports an increased understanding on the part of civil servants of the various ways in which they can also help to support the digital transition of the Greek public administration. At the same time, it also enhances national competitiveness, as the general public can receive the latest information on all national policies in the digital area, and also see first-hand the benefits of the implementation of the country's digital strategy. 

More information is available on the Digital Governance Awards can be found on the government's official website.