Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to be hopeful that new avenues for technology experimentation in California state government will pay dividends.
In a recent interview with Techwire, Newsom weighed in on the prospects of the state's new innovation lab being developed within the Department of Technology's Office of Digital Innovation and Technology Engagement.
“By creating a shared space for testing and developing new open source solutions,” Newsom said, “I hope that this new office will spur a culture of innovation within state government and lead the nation in using technology to bring the government closer to the people.”
Newsom, the former San Francisco mayor and author of e-government and innovation book Citizenville, in recent years has lobbed verbal barbs toward the state of California's IT procurement practices and project delivery methods.
“The best and the brightest have been inventing the future in California for decades,” said Newsom, who’s been an advocate for advancing government technology and is running for governor in 2018. “But here in Sacramento, just a few hours away from Silicon Valley, government struggles to upgrade its digital infrastructure.”
Newsom's comments are featured in Techwire magazine's summer 2016 issue on the "State of Innovation" in California government. View and download the magazine here.
