Government trends 2022

Explore this year’s 10 most transformative government trends.

Resilience, connectivity, inclusion

This year’s trends are grouped within three themes that have emerged across the public sector in response to the pandemic and other major shifts

Building resilience
Governments are cultivating the ability to successfully respond to disruptive events and trends.

• Climate-resilient government: Climate resilience has risen to the top of the agendas of government leaders, who are increasingly linking climate action to their mission. More government agencies, even those not directly linked to the environment, are making climate a priority.

• Reshoring and “friend-shoring” supply chains: Supply chain problems are creating shortages for both suppliers and consumers. To reduce external dependencies, governments are encouraging reshoring, or bringing critical supply chains back within their own jurisdictions. Where this is not possible, nations are “friend-shoring” by creating a network of trusted suppliers from friendly countries.

• Future-proofing the labour force: The pandemic and exponential technological advances are constantly altering the labour landscape, widening the skills mismatch and demand-supply gap for specific jobs. Governments are trying to bring labour policies in line with this new economic reality, including changes to education, skills training, credentialling, and employment frameworks.

Connected for greater value
Governments are arranging agency structures around “problems” rather than departmental boundaries, allowing them to better respond to complex societal matters.

• Linked-up government: Silos within and between agencies administering government programs have long been obstacles to addressing problems, delivering services, and achieving collective results. Governments are now creating interagency structures that break down silos and connect their agencies to respond to complex citizen needs.

• Data-fuelled government: Effective data-sharing requires underlying infrastructure, such as cloud and advanced data management tools. As agencies that lack these tools struggle to catch up, those that do use collaboration derive greater benefits from shared data.

• Government as catalyst: Rather than attempting to do all the heavy lifting, governments can catalyze innovation by serving as enabler, funder, convenor, or ecosystem integrator. They’re accelerating solutions by linking external innovation capabilities to public problem-solvers or by advancing next-generation technologies.

• New era of global public health partnerships: The pandemic showed how interconnection can help develop a collective and coordinated response to a crisis. More and more governments are collaborating with international organizations to develop early-warning capabilities, accelerate scientific research and development, and build health capacities in less developed nations.

Government for all the people
The pandemic has raised awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Leaders are seeking ways to address digital divides as well as reimagine social care programs.

• Digital access for all: The use of remote work, virtual classes, telehealth, and other digital tools during the pandemic focused attention on digital divide and equity issues. In response, governments are working to improve availability, affordability, and adoption to bridge the gaps.

• Designing for inclusive engagement: Government’s ability to cut through the noise and deliver accurate, important messages to the people who need them is crucial to the success of public-sector programs. They’re now focusing on how to engage marginalized communities and how to use new mediums to do so.

• Reimagining social care: The pandemic has compelled governments to re-examine how they can provide equitable, seamless, and effective social care services. Social care leaders are increasingly integrating data across multiple sources to develop early interventions and adopting a human-centred mindset to design and deliver programs.