e-Government shows the evolutionary mechanism of coevolution in information technology and society. The key means to achieve this are intelligent information technologies that include AI, IoT, big data, and cloud computing. In other words, the new e-government is one in which intelligent customized services have evolved through disruptive innovation in terms of intelligent information technology and social coevolution. For a discussion on new e-government, this study analyzed the trends of major countries including the US, the UK, and Canada, along with the opinions of international organizations including the OECD and Gartner. It also analyzed the strategy of the e-Government 2020 basic plan and drew implications based on it. Local e-governments that conform to the new e-government direction are premised on the continuous creation of services that satisfy local residents. To this end, there is a need for changes in e-government governance, establishment of a shared information/service platform created by local residents, cloud-based integration/redesign of local government administrative systems, and advancement into the global local e-government market are required.
Today, as society becomes more interdependent and complex due to the Internet and globalization, uncertainty is very high and disruptive innovation is taking place with technological change that occurs at a faster rate than ever before. It is therefore important to quickly and appropriately predict social change, and to prepare for it wisely at the national level. Accordingly, informatization innovation strategies for governments based on ICT (information and communications technologies) have been actively pursued, with an evolution in goals and methods according to social demands.
The e-government of the Republic of Korea reached its 50th anniversary amid such changes, a period of five decades of achievements and changes where tremendous progress has been made. Since the first introduction of computers for administrative use by the Economic Planning Board in 1967, citizen complaint services and the like over 50 years have not only improved the quality of life of the people, but improved productivity and transparency of administrative affairs through the computerization of government affairs. Companies have also made great leaps forward in supporting corporate competitiveness in areas such as speeding up export customs and the introduction of electronic procurement through bringing corporate services online.
Specifically, South Korean e-government achieved a leap forward as an exporting
country with an ICT-based administrative system. In the biannual e-government
evaluation by UN DESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs)
conducted on 190 member countries, Korea has achieved first place three times since
2010 [
Social change through the implementation of e-government is developing into a coevolutionary relationship that develops with mutual influence through the role of supply and demand. The view of society in the future presents new social needs, and these social needs are leading to new forms of governments. In addition, in the process of responding to the technological outlook and social demands necessary for the society of the future, promotion strategies for informatization policy and a system in which tasks are prepared and implemented are being naturally formed. A government-wide response to this could be a driving force to enhance national competitiveness and lead social development.
This study thus seeks to examine the mechanism and social/technological environmental changes following the evolution of e-government in Korea, and to suggest a new concept and direction for it. 2
e-Governance
E-government was introduced to improve the satisfaction of public administration
services by using ICT technology to quickly and accurately carry out government
administration and decrease government budgets, increase administrative efficiency, and provide
high-quality public administration services to the public [
Since the latter half of the 1980s, the Korean government has established an
egovernment development strategy to provide the world’s best e-government services.
In order to realize a government that responds to the public’s administrative needs and
communicates with the public, the Basic Plan for Mobile e-Government for Realization
of an Advanced Administrative Country was established in October 2010, and the
Smart e-Government Promotion Plan was announced in March 2011 for next-generation
e-government strategy [
The 2020 e-Government Basic Plan was established in an effort to respond to the
rapidly changing e-government environment and to overcome challenges that include
1 According to United Nations e-government evaluation results, Korean e-government ranking
was first in 2010, 2012, and 2014, and third in 2016 and 2018 [
In order to overcome these limitations, e-government must evolve into a new smart
e-government. The OECD (2014) refers to e-government of the future as a digital
government, explained as “government that uses digital technology as an integral part of
its modernization strategy to help various stakeholders promote the production of data,
content and services between and within the government4.” While e-government viewed
the provision of services as the extent of its scope, digital government emphasizes that
even when a service is provided, its scope then extends to receiving feedback on service
results which is used to lead to improvement and change in an operation extending to
the entire life cycle of the service. Digital government defines itself as a data-oriented
government based on cloud, mobile, and social network technologies, with change
management and governance described as larger challenges compared to the days of
e-government [
The future e-government represented by digital government has values oriented on democracy and sustainability and focuses on digitization and openness, and can said to be an e-government based on intelligent information technologies that include AI, IoT, big data, and cloud technologies. In addition, it is a government that provides intelligent personalized services in an evolving form through disruptive innovation in terms of technology and social coevolution, in a process of which it is a government that creates a sustainable environment in which an ecosystem is built in which governments, enterprises, non-profit organizations and individuals cooperate.
E-government policy of the past can be said to be focused on efficiency and
transparency through the informatization of administrative affairs using items such as
information systems and the Internet, as well as boosting online administrative services for
the public. In the future, intelligent information technologies such as AI, mobile, IoT,
big data and cloud must be utilized as core means to develop into an on-demand5 digital
2 https://www.mois.go.kr/frt/bbs/type010/commonSelectBoardArticle.do?
bbsId=BBSMSTR_000000000008&nttId=48976
3 The five major strategies making up the ENJOY acronym for e-Government 2020 are: (1)
Enhancement of the digital experience, (2) New building of an intelligent government, (3)
Joining an e-government ecosystem, (4) Organizing trust infrastructure, and (5) saying Yes to a
global e-government [
Society is transforming into an intelligent information society through an innovative ICTbased convergence/complex revolution, where ICBMS6 technology is internalized within it and acts as a new growth engine that drives innovative changes between technology and the people that live in it. A new future-oriented e-government can only be built once the direction of e-government development has gone through a process in which technology, society, and the people develop together. The concept and characteristics of e-government that the government should pursue can be said to be the convergence of digital technologies based on cooperation between all actors involved including government, people, and enterprises, for a government that digitally provides the services that people want, without restrictions for time, location, and device. The government should thus build a future-oriented e-government using the new technology known as intelligent information technology. 6 An acronym derived from the terms IoT, Cloud, Big data, Mobile, and Security.
The future e-government model aims to realize sustainable development of society as a whole through a 100% digitization of government services, through which databased administrative services, disruptive innovation strategies, and support for customerbased value creation can be achieved. In order to pursue this vision and strategy, the establishment of a cloud-based future administrative work environment and an integrated government service window is first needed.
In addition, in order to realize this, there is an urgent need for laws and regulations related to e-government, a reorganization of civic consciousness, culture and institutions that lag behind the times, and a strengthening of digital capabilities. In order to realize a future-oriented e-government, it is necessary to develop a new technology-based electronic public service with a greater scope by setting the foundation to provide life cycle and personalized services and redesigning e-government towards one centered on data. In future studies, surveys and in-depth interviews of policy actors and policy users should be conducted along with an in-depth study of the direction of e-government through analysis of overseas cases.