How Governments in Sweden, Denmark and Estonia Are Adopting Blockchain and AI
Governments in advanced countries are adopting Blockchain technology and artificial intelligence at a rapid pace. From Estonia, to Malta, The Netherlands to the United States, all countries busy themselves to become fully digitalised societies, hopefully before the expiration of the current decade.In the second part of this article, I examine what is happening in Denmark, Sweden and Estonia.
Denmark has been very progressive in its push towards mainstream adoption of the blockchain and AI in governmental function. Several initiatives have been launched to make this a reality in the country. These initiatives are as follows:
The government of Denmark is looking into the use of AI and the blockchain in digital identity, healthcare, business support and its welfare system. Denmark is one of those countries which have ensured that most of its service provision to citizens is done digitally. Indeed, 90% of Denmark’s governmental services are already being done digitally (Basu, 2017). But the people want more. Danish citizens are demanding even faster response and delivery times for government services.
Denmark is also being forced into the blockchain evolution by the country’s population demographics. Denmark’s ageing population means that fewer younger people are available to get into the public service. Therefore, this is a classical case where augmentation of the human workforce using the blockchain and AI is desirable. For Denmark, this has become a necessity, even though it can be quite controversial.
Denmark has a welfare system which caters to retirees, vulnerable groups and pensioners. Denmark has an extremely high welfare expenditure profile. Indeed, according to the OECD Social Expenditure Database, Denmark ranks 4th (after France, Finland and Belgium) in terms of % of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that goes into social spending (Carlstrom, 2016). This figure is put at just above 30% of GDP. While this may have translated into a high ranking in the OECD Better Life Index, it creates new challenges that need to be addressed. Birth rates have slowed, creating an increasingly elderly population that will require social benefits, without a corresponding number of young people who can work in government to carry out all the paperwork required in processing the welfare benefits. It has become necessary to adopt new technologies to deal with the increased data workload. The use of AI and robots to automate the process and also to augment the existing workforce is a strategy that the government of Denmark is using to ensure every Krone spent on welfare goes a lot further than existing systems will allow.
In healthcare, Denmark is exploring the use of AI and the blockchain to introduce some positive changes to how it administers care to elderly patients, patients with chronic health conditions as well as patients with mental health issues. According to Lars Frelle-Peterson, the Director-General of the Danish Agency for Digitization, the Danish government is interested in using AI to assist doctors and nurses in their decision-making processes as they administer care to patients, as well as help them describe treatments and better understand diseases.
Frelle also highlights the positives of using AI in managing patients with mental health issues where mobility can be a problem. There is now a system in place where patients who are chronically ill or have mental health issues can be treated at home, using remote systems that connect them with their healthcare providers. This has the benefit of cutting the costs of providing health to these populations and will also have the added benefit of providing greater patient satisfaction.
Education is another area where AI and the blockchain are expected to be used as tools of intervention. Starting in 2019, a new digital learning platform that is expected to connect all schools in the country, will be launched.
