The theme for GOVIS 2024 was Trust to Innovate. In 2024, the public service has been facing increasingly complex and demanding challenges, with limited resources to meet them. The only way forward is to innovate more, and we need to be trusted to do this and take some risks.

At the same time, we need to remember the serious consequences of innovating faster than the speed of trust. Innovation should be done with our customers and partners and not to them - so as we innovate, we also need to build trust.

For example, AI tools have recently become much more capable and accessible… but how should (and shouldn’t) we harness this technology? Data is richer and more abundant… but are we collecting and using it in a transparent and effective way? Digital transformation projects of various sizes are underway… but are we really putting customers at the centre?

At this conference we had an amazing opportunity to connect to with each other, share our challenges and successes, and learn from some smart and inspiring people. Some particular highlights included:

• Passionate discussions at our pre-conference workshops about the governance of data and need for equity when using data and data-driven technology (like generative AI).

• An engaging and compelling opening address from the Hon Judith Collins, Minister for Digitising Government. We appreciated the Minister’s optimistic “well why not” approach to generative AI. It was also great to hear about the constructive approach she has taken with a cross-party working group on AI and with the Data Iwi Leaders Group, and that she endorses the notion that government should see the people it serves as “customers” (something we heard about at our 2023 conference from Damon Rees, former head of Service New South Wales).

• A warm presentation from Maria English, CEO of ImpactLab, on "what can government learn from the charity sector about using data to create impact?" It was a great demonstration on how the head and the heart can work together to inform the way we serve people. There was also a good message in there about how decision makers can't 'unsee' the evidence once it has been put in front of them, rather they need to figure out what to do about it. This is a great way of summing up public servants’ responsibility to provide free and frank advice to the minister of the day.

• A comprehensive explanation from Pete Herlihy of AWS about Digital Public Infrastructure, and what New Zealand can learn from the likes of India and Estonia in making use of it.

• Our panellists Emma MacDonald (Stats NZ), Allyn Robins (Brainbox) and Amber Guette (Hooseland Integrity Comission) talking to RNZ journalist Phil Pennington about trusting the government with AI.

• Don Christie (Catalyst) and Alex Matthews (Xequals) sharing some lessons from overseas and from the private sector about how the public service can do better for less.

• An in-depth discussion from Catherine Mules (NZTE) about governing AI.

• Jonnie Haddon from Creative HQ sharing three ideas for how the public service could foster a more trusted democracy.

• Other excellent speakers giving short talks about the zero.govt.nz mobile data service, eduroam wifi, the FormBuilder.govt tool, the Centralised Web Accessibility Checker, collaboration on technical standards in the health sector, profiling a free and holistic project management framework called Praxis, and updating us on the latest from DIA on Digital Identity and Verifiable Credentials.