Awards to recognise public sector IT projects


16 Jan 2007

Public sector technology initiatives undertaken over the past 12 months are to be recognised as part of an awards ceremony to take place in March.

The Innovation through Technology Awards 2006, sponsored by Eircom, is aimed at drawing attention to IT projects taking place at various different levels of local and central government.

Any scheme that kicked off during 2006 is eligible for entry and there is no fee to apply. There are seven categories in all, designed to cover as wide a range as possible. Projects may be entered into any category and entries from all types of schemes are welcomed. According to the organisers, the projects will be judged on merit rather than by scale or resources allocated to them.

The first category is best project: government to government, for projects that demonstrate effective joined-up working between at least two organisations in the public sector.

The government to citizen and government to business awards will recognise projects that demonstrate effective service delivery or interaction to citizens and industry respectively.

The best project within an organisation category will be presented to the best project that uses information services behind the scenes. A partnership project award, meanwhile, will cover the project that best uses information age services involving a number of organisations in both the public and private sectors.

Finally, there are two awards for innovative organisation of the year and innovator of the year. The former will recognise an agency that is using innovative technology across various projects, while the latter award will be presented to a person working in the public sector who has championed the use of innovative technology within their workplace.

Eircom chief executive Rex Comb said that he hoped the awards would spur other government organisations into similar projects. “One department or agency’s achievement can act as a catalyst for further innovation throughout the public sector, sparking ideas and initiatives among colleagues in quite unrelated service areas, to the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Closing date for receipt of completed entries is Tuesday, 20 February and the awards ceremony will take place on 22 March in the Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin. More information is available at www.insidegovernment.ie.

By Gordon Smith