The 7th Annual Australian Government Data Summit 2021 took place on 23 March 2021 at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra. The summit was held for individuals to share their knowledge on data management in relation to their roles within the public sector.
At the summit, attendees were taught the following:
- Management of the use, reuse and sharing of public sector data
- Leverage emerging technology for a more strategic approach to the delivery of government service
- Deliver agile data management across the three tiers of government
- Quantify the ROI in data management technologies
- Build transparency and trust with citizens
New Zealand and US governments were featured through their innovative agencies at the summit for a global and international perspective.
The Director of Robinsons Lloyd Robinsons welcomed the delegates and speakers on the first day of the summit in his opening remarks.
Head of Data Strategy Tim Beard presented “Building an Olympic-style data certification model.” Meanwhile, Lloyd Robinson’s topic “Roadmap to managing data strategically” discussed in detail how organisations can become data disciplined.
Director, Analytics and Intelligence, Office for Data Analytics for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet SA Dr Stephen Zidek provided his study on “Leveraging behavioural economics to produce more meaningful policy.”
Once Director Zidek finished his talk, Mark Purcell AM a Retired Rear Admiral gave a discussion on Government Data Technology Solutions.
Wrapping up the morning section was Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Department of the Air Force Eileen Vidrine’s virtual talk on “Unlocking the power of data across all missions and operations.”
After lunch, the summit went back to session with another talk from Lloyd Robinson on “Leveraging artificial intelligence and data science to manage transport.”
The following speakers were also present during the first day of the event and they presented their topics via stream:
- Dr Piyush Madhamshettiwar – Practice and Capability Lead, Data Science and Analytics Department of Transport VIC
- Samuel Spencer – Chief Executive Officer and Technical Co-Founder Aristotle Cloud Services
- David Okunyah – Data Scientist of Comcare
- Jessie Nghiem – Senior Data Scientist, Energy Safe Victoria
- Brendan Dalton – Chief Information Officer, CSIRO
- Samantha Gavel – Privacy Commissioner, NSW Government
Thought Leadership Roundtables session where delegates could delve deeper on topics added highlights for the afternoon sessions as led by the following speakers with their topics:
- Mapping the 2021-25 data trends and technologies including AI and its ethical impacts — W. Daniel Cox, III Chief Executive Officer, Ascention
- Modernising your enterprise-data footprint — Jane Kapr Chief Executive Officer, Billigence and Rachel Smith-Cianchi RVP – ANZ Public Sector at Tableau
- Building and managing a Protected Data Lake in the public cloud — Richard Tomkinson, Managing Director, Cloudten and Bede Hackney, Country Manager, Databricks Australia and New Zealand
- Mapping the 2021 data and artificial intelligence landscape
After the Roundtables was a panel discussion moderated by Dalton. The panellists for the discussion were Tim Beard, Irina Bastrakova and David Okunya. Chief Data Officer of Tertiary Education Commission Jan Sheppard virtually presented an international case study on “Building an organisation-wide ecosystem through data” after the panel discussion.
On day two of the Data Summit, Practical Lead of Robinson Ryan Todd Heather gave his opening remarks and introduced the first speaker, Chief Data Officer of the Bureau of Meteorology Boris Kelly-Gerryn.
In her case study, Chief Data Officer Kelly-Gerryn discussed four methods on how the Bureau will strengthen its capabilities related to their services. She said these methods were integral to the Bureau’s 2017-22 strategy in implementing a strong data infrastructure and management, along with data collection and analytics.
Deputy Chief Data Officer of the U.S Department of State Garrett Berntsen also shared the ways his team handled data analytics for different departments in the US government.
Next on the event was a panel discussion with the following speakers:
- Simon Wall — Director, Data Governance and Management of the National Library of Australia
- Angkana Whiley — Executive Branch Manager of Data and Analytics ACT Government
- Tammy Braybrook — Chief Data Officer of IP Australia
- Narelle Grayson — Director of NSW Data Analytics Centre Department of Customer Service (NSW)
The panellists gave their thoughts on the presented questions given to them by the summit attendees. Most of their answers were about data management, strategy and culture in their line of work with relation to the post-pandemic situation of the country.
Following the panel discussion was Managing Director of OneTrust, APJ Robinson Roe who talked about securing consumer’s personal data and developing an organisation trust framework to protect such data.
After a short break, the delegates were given two streams they could choose to attend.
During one of these streams, Assistant Director of ACT Data Analytics Centre Dr Joe Walshe shared his team’s experience in 2020 when they had to speed up and maintain the quality of their data handling capabilities due to the pandemic.
Government Advisor of Future Cities Data and Technology Strategy; Transport and Logistics; Clusters and Living Labs Dr Neil Temperley addressed the challenges of a data-driven mindset by talking about using data to reach desired outcomes.
After lunch, Director of NSW Data Analytics Centre, Department of Customer Service (NSW) Narelle Grayson presented the NSW’s COVID-19 Data Program’s role in aiding the community’s response to the pandemic.
Lead Enterprise Data Architect of Airservices Australia Dr Renato Iannella also talked in great detail about data semantics and its functions at the event.
Chief Data Officer of IP Australia Tammy Braybrook revealed to the audience that data can be combined and built upon for foundations and innovations. Likewise, Managing Director of Open Data Connect Julian Singh presented his study on data impacting decisions on smart dashboards.
Finishing the event was Senior Data Engineer of New Zealand Transport Agency John Li with his speech on the data challenges and solutions New Zealand’s government had as they underwent a digital transformation.
The following speakers were also present during the event and gave their talks during the two streams:
- Frederic R Clarke — Data Solutions Lead, of ABS COVID-19 Statistical Taskforce
- Peter Ryan — Associate Director of Premier’s Implementation Unit
- Dr Danswell Starrs — Water Science, Monitoring and Modelling Manager of Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate
- Angkana Whiley — Executive Branch Manager, Data and Analytics of ACT Government
- W. Daniel Cox, III — Chief Executive Officer of Ascention
And with that, the 7th Annual Australian Government Data Summit 2021 came to a close.
Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.
