Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes' speech at Aruba Innovation Summit 2019

“To the members of Parliament, ministers, advisors, heads of departments ladies and gentlemen and to our special guests all the way from Estonia, un Cordial Bon Dia y Bon Bini.

It is a pleasure and honor to welcome you all to the second Aruba Innovation Summit. This year we are excited to have eGovernment as the main topic on the agenda.  You are all here today because you play an integral role in the digital transformation journey of our island.

Governments are operating in increasingly unpredictable circumstances and need to deal with a diverse set of challenges. As a small island, our challenges can be even more complex sometimes. However, in the 21^stcentury, our small size is an advantage for innovation. We have a great opportunity to leapfrog. The status quo is no longer an option if we want to catalyze our economy and better service our citizens.

This is where eGovernment comes in. Historically, governments have set rules and procedures to insure trust and fairness within the existing system. However, this has proven to create major inefficiencies and pitfalls. eGovernment will help us streamline processes, structures, increase transparency and fight corruption.

Our vision is to eliminate bureaucracy that has placed a burden our economy can no longer carry, and with this improve the quality of life for our citizens.  

Our human-centered approach focuses on putting the quality of experience of our public services front and center, to make your lives easier, and to bring our government into the 21^stcentury.

For eGovernment to become a reality it requires commitment on all levels. Commitment of our Government and private sector. Commitment from our citizens, our teachers, our NGOs and so forth. Our guests from Estonia will talk about the requirements from a technical and organizational perspective, but I want to emphasize that eGovernment is not going to happen in one day, it will take time to transform the way we work, the way we think and even the way we serve. We will do this is in stages and together with our partners to maximize efficiency and outputs. That said, rest assure that this Government is committed to achieving the goals we have set, and I am fully committed to this project.

They say that you have to practice what you preach. In this spirit, I would like to share with you that my Cabinet will soon be moving toward an e-Cabinet, where we will conduct our Council of Ministers meetings in a fully digitized way. This is a simple step with big impact, and this is how we are going to do this. We will take many small steps, hundreds to thousands of small steps until we no longer have to advocate for innovation within government, but it becomes embedded into our DNA and our way of working.  

And I believe this is a great day to announce a pioneering initiative by our Government to accelerate nation-wide innovation even further:

Ladies and Gentlemen – I herewith would like to kick off the “100 Innovations for Aruba” initiative.

From big to small ideas, new technologies for simplicity and creative solutions, let’s work together to create 100 innovations for Aruba on the road to 2020. I would like to invite the entire public sector, the private sector, academia, NGOs, entrepreneurs, and our citizens to join us in this journey toward becoming a service-oriented, human-centered digital government.

Let us together take the step, big or small to accelerate innovation for our island Aruba and to better serve our citizens. We can learn from each other and inspire others to serve our citizens better.

Can we achieve 100 innovations by 2020? I am confident that if we join forces, we can achieve much more than 100 innovations and with an impact beyond the limits of our own imaginations.

eGovernment is not going to be an easy process but any process that will have a great and long-lasting impact is not easy. However, the impact is so great for our people that firm decisions are required to drive the change we want to see. I’m sure you have a lot of questions that we will try to answer through the sessions today, and perhaps you may even have doubts. We may not have the solution for every single problem yet, but one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty, I am committed to give it 100% to make things happen for as long as we have the mandate to do so. 

As Einstein famously said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

The government is taking the leap; we are testing new ways of doing things and we are not afraid to think different. I invite you to do the same, I ask you to believe that things can be different, and I also ask you to trust the journey. A ‘wait and see’ approach does not serve our country. I have no doubt that our island, with all its challenges and restrictions, we DO have what it takes to achieve our goals. Because at the end of the day, this is about people. Aruba is counting on it. Our people are counting on it. So what will YOUR next innovation be?

Thank you and I wish you a great and innovative summit!” – Evelyn Wever-Croes