Nele Leosk, Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia

1. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation. 

Technology policies have dual role. On the one hand, they need to support, or lead to digital services that people need, find easy to use. So, technology policies must make our lives easier and simpler. On the other hand, technology policies must also help to build, or shape a virtual world where our privacy and values are protected.

In the world where digital divide is increasing, where technological development is increasingly concentrated in very few countries and companies, where risks are increasing from the spread of misinformation to cyber attacks, my role is very simple – to contribute to the World where everybody benefits from digital technologies and where we all feel good and safe. This is easier said than done, obviosly. It involves so many lines of work, not all under my direct control, from digital partnerships to technology governance, from digital development to cyber capacity building. My more concrete tasks include representing Estonia in technological issues. 

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2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year?  

There is an initiative that I am particularly proud of, co-initiated with ITU and Germany – Women in GovTech Challenge, a female only training and mentorship programme. We had more than 140  women trained and mentored from 48 countries. Amazing digital services, tools, and solutions were designed and developed within the programme, in areas from education to health, from Uganda to Peru, and beyond! 

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024?

I wouldn’t say it was unexpected, it was rather expected, but I hope we were braver in using or when facing digital technologies. Overall, there is a somewhat pessimistic mood in the world around digitalisation. Surely, there are concerns we need to attend to and take seriously, but the benefits should overweigh the worries. I do hope to see more digital optimism in 2025! 

4. What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025?  

I am actually excited to learn more about how AI could help myself, my organisation, and society to improve what we do, or do it faster, to leave time for dealing with smth that matters more to us.  

5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector.  

For now, the majority of applications focus on streamlining administrative processes, and reducing the time we would otherwise spend on certain processes. This could be smth as simple as automatic detection and deletion of personal data from public documents.

6. What are your priorities for 2025? 

To keep learning and be curious! 

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7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators?  

We need to take risks to succeed! It is a challenge for public officials though, due to public (or colleagues’) scrutiny and a general attitude that public officials should not fail. 

8. Who inspires you today? 

So many people, not easy to pick any. But generally, everybody with passion, desire and enthusiasm for their profession or hobby, no matter that professioon or hobby is, inspires me!