Podcast: From digitizing government to making AI work for Britain

Two influential voices in digital innovation reflect on the lessons learned from the past decade of digital transformation and examine what AI means for leadership, infrastructure, education, data and national resilience.

Professor Alan Brown has extensive experience in industry and academia and is the author of six books on digital transformation, including his new book Making AI Work for Britain, which looks at the successes of digital government in the UK and proposes a set of institutional reforms to facilitate the UK’s AI ambitions – arguing that the “starting point to make AI work for Britain is implementation, not aspiration”. 

He is joined by Professor Mark Thompson, also a Professor in Digital Economy at the University of Exeter Business School as well as an influential voice in the debate around how public sector organisations adapt to digital systems. Professor Thompson was one of the architects behind the NHS Jobs platform, which streamlined recruitment across the NHS, and has long argued in favour of ‘servitised platforms’ as a way of modernising public services. His work is widely published, including with Professor Alan Brown the 2014 book Digitizing Government, a text that has influenced how public sector leaders understand digital transformation.