Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
It’s all about activating the economy again and creating quality jobs,
and that cannot be accomplished in our times
without considering the fundamental drivers
for job creation
- technology and innovation.
Government services, communication channels and services between government and citizens
have to be efficient, up-to-date, and interactive.
Interconnectivity,
access, ease of use, time and cost reductions
- those are the elements that go into our investments, and make up the benefits as well.
The government’s role is that of facilitator,
as well as allowing for and assuring that the development of its systems
is such that any enterprise
can develop more applications and services on top of those systems.
It must become a model for openness
in order to facilitate
government to government,
and government to citizen transactions, and allow for economic development
through technology so that services can be exported
and local industry maximized.
The world of technology is moving at a faster pace than government institutions.
That means that there is a discrepancy
- and that is way these conference is so important.
Because government has lagged behind,
has become antiquated,
and boring. It has lost contact
with the people that it represents.
If one were to limit the talent within government
to only those working inside government,
then our vision can only be limited.
If we open it up to all citizens,
then we can innovate much more than what we are able to do so right now.
Well, it’s already taken a step in the right direction,
because I’ve seen hundreds of individuals here
putting their creativity to work,
trying to develop new applications that can
benefit other citizens - but through some type of government activity.
When you try to work with government data,
it’s usually pretty closed off, and it’s difficult to gain access to the information we need
in order to work on whatever it is we are trying to make.
Government must open its data
and make sure that those who want to participate can use that data in a way
that is accessible to other citizens.
On April 4th, a press release announced
the Executive Order signed thanks to our Governor’s leadership,
which precisely stated the need
to open the government’s databases in order to develop applications and create jobs.
We need to encourage the development of applications that offer better services to citizens, better services to government
- and today, it’s a great honor for me to say that we have hundreds of application developers out there
working on many challenges we have presented them with.
For those application developers to be able to work,
the most important motor for them - the access
that allows them to work
- is the API.
Application Programming Interface.
The API is what allows for
the development of all those applications that will
give us better services for citizens,
will facilitate transactions between government and enterprise,
and will generate many, many revenue streams.
I think it’s enormous
what the release of APIs
has done for corporations
- it’s been incredible for the private industry.
By releasing all that data and allowing programmers that don’t have anything
to do with government have a go at it - programmers that don’t have a government contract,
that are interested only in taking a look at that information and creating solutions that might help the rest of society
- you allow the creation of solutions such as those that have benefited Facebook, Apple, Netflix,
and all those corporations
that have been able to hire new employees
and build new functionalities by opening up their data.
We became interested
in the event because it’s the first time that the government organizes something like it
and shows interest in the hacker community.
Us hackers are entertained by events like this one - it’s like going to Disney - and we get to enjoy hacking
with others who know what they are doing and are working on problems right beside you...
…and building a product that is designed
for practical use by citizens, that is simple to use as well. It’s not about
creating a system for the citizen to adjust to
- but to think about his particular needs.
Besides doing something that is positive,
you are helping to change the prevalent image of the hacker
as someone who wants to do harm - which is not really the case.
There’s collaboration between various companies,
students even, and professionals...
It’s not a competitive environment, more of a collaborative one.
Today I’m working on a solution for companies
to be able to get their certifications via telephone or text message,
by sending a text message
with specific information.
If a waterpipe breaks down in front of your house
- you open the app, report the incident, and it reaches
the government office that takes care of it.
We were really interested in working with crime data from the police
in order to develop an application
that would allow citizens
to consult via mobile device how safe is the area
they are currently on.
We decided to make an application for reviewing the performance of government employees
who deal directly with citizens.
Using this dashboard,
you can view all the information
you might need at any given moment
in order to make quick decisions
about things happening in a school.
Our solution allows you to
create digital forms online,
send them directly to the agency that needs to evaluate them,
and sign them directly from your cellphone
or any tablet and computer.
We decided to build a webpage
that functions as an information systems talent pool,
that compiles information about students and government employees.
Our team is responsible for the “Report It” application.
Basically it addresses the need
for standardization by creating a report system that requires the citizen
to download only one application through which
any type of claim or transaction can be done.
If I see that my neighbor’s property is being stolen,
we take a picture and “report it”
- we have the geolocation and the application delivers it to the appropriate office.
I see a pothole in the street - we’ve all seen them - and I can “report it”...
Nowadays we can pay a traffic ticket online and
not have to wait in line for a huge amount of time like before.
No need to call. No need to go to an office.
You just use a website or mobile application
to get the answers to your questions.
And also, you have direct access to services, like renewing your driver’s license, etcetera.
As long as we keep interconnecting and relating data
with specific transactions
so that citizens, instead of waiting
one, two or three days can spend
one, ten or fifteen minutes, then we can accelerate our economy.
Para que lo que estamos haciendo
In order for these efforts to be of value, there has to be an environment where the media
- the means - are trusted.
Technology is one of the most important sectors in terms of
Puerto Rico’s future economic growth.
This event is going to rouse the Puerto Rican community
and I think that it makes obvious
that a new economic development sector
has been created.
The vision that technology is economic development
and that there exists a vibrant industry of people ready
to develop applications
for the benefit of the citizenship,
working towards exporting services globally,
had not necessarily been understood by government.
So we organized this technology summit
to address that, and parallel to it,
we bring together all the people that can work on technological solutions
to our problems, and demonstrate that this is indeed
the future of Puerto Rico.