Date added: 2026-02-03
Gdańsk Tech researcher at the head of a global digital government association
The Digital Government Society (DGS) is a global, multi-disciplinary, and professional association whose goal is to develop research, public policies and good practices in the field of digital government, i.e. the use of digital technologies to generate public value, transform public administration, public policies and relations between the state and society, and implement the digital public agenda.
Its members are scholars, researchers and practitioners from various disciplines, affiliations and countries who focus on the development of the digital state worldwide. The DGS provides its members with a professional support network focusing on research, practice and interaction between research and practice at local, regional, national and international levels.
The association was established in 2005 based on the pioneering Digital Government programme of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the first initiatives aimed at enabling partnerships between research and government institutions in technology. The roots of this programme date back to the 1993 National Performance Review, led by the then Vice President Al Gore, also one of the world's first legislative initiatives promoting the use of technology to increase the efficiency and productivity of public administration.
The DGS has had 11 presidents to date, including nine from the United States, one from Canada, and one from the Netherlands. According to the DGS constitution, the President-Elect will automatically become President upon the next election and will serve for the next two years (2028–2029).
20 years of experience in the UN system, from Afghanistan to North Korea
The President-Elect of the Digital Government Society, Tomasz Janowski, PhD, is a professor at the Gdańsk University of Technology. From 2017 to 2025, he was the head of the Department of Informatics in Management at the Faculty of Management and Economics. He is also the International Engagement Editor of Government Information Quarterly, where he previously served as co-editor-in-chief for a decade, and coordinator of the DIGIMPACT.EU project.
His academic work focuses on issues related to the digital state, digital transformation and sustainable development. He is the author or co-author of over 300 scientific publications, analytical reports and project reports (his name is included in the Stanford/Elsevier World's Top 2% Scientists list for his overall career impact and annual scientific impact since 2023).
He has nearly twenty years of experience in the United Nations system, including as founder and director of UNU-EGOV, a unit of the United Nations University. He has lectured to academic and decision-making circles in over 60 countries and managed over 40 projects with a total value of more than USD 9 million, funded by, among others, the World Bank, the European Commission, the Commonwealth Secretariat, EIT, IDB, OSCE, UNDP, UNESCO and UNU.
His professional portfolio spans five continents, including work in conflict-affected countries (e.g. Afghanistan, Colombia), countries with specific development needs (e.g. Cameroon, North Korea, Vanuatu), as well as regional (Latin America, European Union) and interregional (EU-China) initiatives.
His contribution to the development of the global community of digital government researchers and practitioners includes initiating the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) series – a leading event on digital government held under the auspices of the United Nations, coordinating ten ICEGOV conferences around the world (in Macau, Cairo, Bogota, Beijing, Tallinn, Albany, Seoul, Guimarães, Montevideo and New Delhi), and serving as co-chair of three editions of the Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (DG.O) – the flagship conference of the DGS, which were held or will be held in: Gdańsk (2023), Porto Alegre (2025) and Omaha (2026).