Digital public infrastructure explained

Digital enablement as a resource multiplier is a powerful way for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its most essential needs. DPI is crucial for enhancing productivity, entering new markets, fostering innovation, and promoting sustainability. It can be used in a way that is both long-lasting and scalable.

While physical infrastructure benefits are localised, DPI enables a national uplift in efficiency, service delivery, and equity. It paves the way for innovative service delivery models, including a revitalised social investment approach with outcome-based commissioning and devolution to local community providers and iwi. A more joined-up and thoughtful approach could see us lay the beginnings of DPI alongside social investment that can then be used to tackle some of our other wicked problems.

There are numerous global examples of the same digital building blocks within DPI being used to transform health, business setup, social assistance, and trade. The impact of good DPI is beginning to extend beyond single nations into international efficiencies for those nations with common DPI components. For example, the European Union uses DPI to realise a ‘once only’ principle for information capture across the entire bloc.

New Zealand was world-leading in its digitisation efforts and in some areas we continue to be digital leaders. However, in recent years we have not kept up. In the Briefing to the Incoming Minister for Digitising Government, it was recognised that “modern, agile and digitally enabled services that span agency boundaries challenge the public service’s existing funding, governance and delivery models, and we have struggled to change or overcome these deeply rooted settings”.

Global experience with DPI suggests six main elements could be used to accelerate our progress:

1. National policy framework: A clear, integrated, and agreed national policy on DPI is essential for ensuring the required joined-up direction.
2. Dedicated DPI alliance: DPI is only successful with a joint public, private, and not-for-profit alliance behind it. That alliance will need to educate, incentivise, monitor, and enforce.
3. Partnership ecosystem: Outside of the core alliance a broader ecosystem of activators, investors, facilitators, and builders is needed.
4. Financial framework: Creating a funding pipeline for DPIs requires public, private, and not-for-profits to have clarity on what should be publicly, privately, and jointly funded.
5. Progressive infrastructure: DPI around the world is creating a set of tried-and-true design patterns and building blocks based on advanced infrastructure and the ability to work with other systems.
6. Outreach and capacity building: Successful nations have created urgency and momentum around DPI by establishing a policy-driven change management and adoption strategy from the very beginning.