Eddie Copeland
Head of Technology Policy, 2013-15
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, is quoted by LocalGov highlighting the need for a 'digital nudge' to help local authorities save money and use fewer resources.
Smart Devolution proposes that mayors should be required to set up data offices to create smarter, more productive cities. Learning the lessons from New York, the report examines how most cities could access and utilise the vast quantities of data available, to help improve public services, safety and economic growth.
Big Data in the Big Apple argues that the next Mayor of London should replicate New York's success at using analytics by appointing a Data Tsar based in City Hall whose job would be to lead a team of analysts that collects and overlays different data sets held by each of London 33 boroughs as well as the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade.
Small Pieces Loosely Joined highlights how billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being wasted due to the inability of local councils to share and to use technology and data in the most cost effective way. It sets out how councils can save money by making better use of data through sharing and fraud prevention and by replacing bespoke IT systems with an 'app store'.
The technology revolution is failing to reach all parts of Britain. Silicon Cities argues that ‘clusters’ – geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field – are the most effective way of boosting the technology sector across the country, and makes a number of recommendations as to how this can be achieved.
Politicians and policymakers must put technology front and centre of their thinking for the 2015 general election. This manifesto sets out three principal goals: to build the world's most connected and digitally skilled society; to make Britain the most attractive place outside of Silicon Valley for technology entrepreneurs to start and grow a business; and to make our government the smartest in the world.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, reflects back on the key developments on the public sector digital transformation and sets out his predictions for 2016.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, interviews Mike Flowers, the founding director of New York's Mayor's Office of Data Analytics, about his experiences of applying data analytics to urban environments.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, shows how digital tools offer a powerful channel for policymakers to use and enhance nudge techniques and how, in turn, nudge prompts offer the potential to increase the effectiveness of digital government projects.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, explains how the use of digital nudge to spread out citizens' consumption of public services over time could save significant levels of government money.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, questions whether the declining costs of technology will soon make it more economical to employ systems that can translate data between different databases than it would be for government to adopt open standards.
Following a series of high-profile departures at the Government Digital Service, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Eddie Copeland sets out where the GDS should go next. Eddie calls for the GDS to be focus on maintaining standards for front-end government IT; improving user experience; leading on open standards and best practice; and improve government IT procurement.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, examines the policy challenges facing the introduction of driverless cars in the UK. Eddie sets out five major benefits the introduction of driverless cars to cities will bring and warns policymakers that, should they want to maximise the impact of the new technology, they need to start thinking about it now.
In his latest blog, Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange’s Head of Technology Policy, describes the advances government could make if it personalised public services in the way that Amazon, Tesco ClubCard and Google currently do. Eddie argues that if public services addressed the needs of the individual by joining up data across departments, there would be a significant benefit to citizens.
Eddie Copeland, Head of the Technology Unit at Policy Exchange, considers what effect the election result will have on technology policy in the next five years. Due to an unexpected Conservative majority, Eddie argues the focus is certain to be on the future of the Government Digital Service and the impact an EU referendum could have on Britain's role as the most digital nation in Europe.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, argues that politicians are mistaken in their belief that the concept of a 'smart' city is simply one that is as technologically advanced as possible. Cities are not collections of buildings and infrastructure but communities of people: they will be ‘smart’ only to the extent that the people within them have the information they need to improve their lives and the intelligence and insight to act upon it.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, responds to Nesta's Stian Westlake's blog calling for innovation policymakers ‘to be less boring’. Eddie argues that using the term 'digital government' creates the perception that digital government policies are somewhat removed from the rest of the public service reform agenda.
Eddie Copeland, Head of Policy Exchange's Technology Policy Unit, argues that all companies are going to have to become - in part - data companies if they are to survive. If the government is keen on the future success of the economy, Eddie says, they will need to start shouting louder about the need to beef up the data aspects of business.
Eddie Copeland, Head of Policy Exchange's Technology Policy Unit, argues that, when it comes to Big Data, it's not the technique that matters, nor the process, but the outcome. Eddie looks at the changes that government will need to make to take full advantage of Big Data and deliver tangible outcomes that really matter.
Eddie Copeland, Head of Policy Exchange's Technology Policy Unit, explores how smarter use of technology and data could help public sector organisations deliver front-line services in the face of further funding cuts after the next election. Eddie sets out how, though the main three political parties are all taking greater interest in digitally-enabled reform, digital government remains a niche interest.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy sets out how the need for greater efficiency and to “catch up” with public expectations of service has seen a sharp rise in interest in using technology to transform the public sector. Eddie reviews where each of the political parties stand on digital government, and argues that whatever the shape of the next government, technology offers a genuine means to deliver more and better with less.
Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy Eddie Copeland and Technology Policy Research Fellow Cameron Scott examine the new Sharing Economy Review. They highlight three welcome themes that the Review picks up on that typically receive less attention: trust and identity, public sector benefits and digital/social inclusion.
Following the NHS's plans to introduce a 'kitemark' for health apps, Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, argues that the commitment to adopting a medically rigorous approach to health apps may help convince patients that technology and data are the friend and not the foe of better healthcare.
Following his appearance at the Northern Futures summit, Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, asks whether elected mayors will be enough to revitalise the North's cities by themselves. Eddie highlights three areas that will need to be addressed alongside mayors to bring about a Northern powerhouse: transport, cooperation and tax.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Technology Policy, argues that politicians need to take action to build citizens’ trust in how public and private sector organisations use their data.
Eddie Copeland, Head of Policy Exchange's Technology Policy Unit, sets out how a fragmentation of data within and between government departments, agencies and local authorities is hindering tech-powered public services from fulfilling its potential. For the real benefits of digital government to be achieved, open standards and common platforms across the public sector that allow data to be shared and analysed must be adopted.
Open data has huge potential, says Policy Exchange's Head of Digital Government Eddie Copeland, but there is a danger that the benefits could be lost unless a new approach is taken.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Digital Government, diagnoses the problems with care.data, the government's attempt to combine GP and hospital records in a new central database. Eddie argues that the initiative is failing to make clear its benefits to individuals and suffers from a lack of trust.
As Policy Exchange’s Digital Government Unit launches a major piece of research into the policy challenges for the development of smart cities in the UK, Head of Unit Eddie Copeland invites those with expertise and interest in the field to contribute their views, ideas and case-studies.
Eddie Copeland, Head of Digital Government at Policy Exchange welcomes the return of Computer Science onto the school curriculum, adding that it has the potential to enable new and existing industries to flourish, expand and succeed in the global digital economy.
Eddie Copeland, Policy Exchange's Head of Digital Government, praises David Cameron for using his speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet to reiterate the need to support UK start-ups. Eddie sets out a series of policies that government (relaxing visa requirements for skilled migrants and capital gains tax rollover relief for shares) and the private sector (entrepreneurial sabbaticals) can implement in order to boost the UK start-up scene.
