Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1050749
17 CULTURE maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 NOVEMBER 2018 INNOVATION Assisting Government in achieving great results CONVERGE – investment in infrastructure and IT systems MITA is currently working on the CONvErGE project, aimed at grouping Government digital ser- vices, implement new electronic services and operate through one infrastructural framework. Gov- ernment will be investing €57 million, including €28.5 million from European Regional Devel- opment Funds. The Agency will be implement- ing the infrastructure and the platforms that sustain these sys- tems. There are already nine min- istries involved in this project and in the future, more ministries will be using this infrastructure. As part of this project, MITA will be commissioning the Gov- ernment Hybrid Cloud. This will enable Government services and solutions to be more efficient, more effective and according to what will be required in the fu- ture. Another important initiative is the Workflow Automation Solu- tion which will be used to imple- ment digital and online processes, as well as e-forms. Outdated sys- tems and digital processes will be replaced with better solutions, al- lowing the digitalisation of forms and the provision of better ser- vices. Through Base Registers, com- mon data will be available to be used across Government. This will permit the Once-Only prin- ciple and Government Depart- ments will have access to correct information through the national data portal, which will also in- corporate the Open Data portal that will be used for the European Data Portal. Along with these horizontal projects, MITA will also be in- volved in the vertical projects by providing consultancy to minis- tries for the implementation of certain systems. Emerging technologies MITA also has a leading role in helping Malta become the Block- chain Island. The Agency has just launched an Emerging Technolo- gies Lab for MITA and the Public Service employees, with an in- vestment of €250,000. The Agency is providing tools for its employees and for the Public Service to experiment and learn about new technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial In- telligence, Virtual and Augment- ed Reality, as well as 3D printing. On another level, MITA is as- sisting tech startups to develop their ideas using Blockchain and emerging technologies. Through consultancy, cash grants, facilities and physical as- sistance, MITA is helping these companies to plan and structure themselves according to law re- quirements, while guiding them to how they should market their idea and pitch it in front of inves- tors. This year, there were two calls for startups, from which MITA chose 12 ideas of which eight were related to Blockchain. MITA was also involved in the DELTA Summit as its official IT partner. MITA provided the network services, while also having a pres- ence through its stand. Our Head of Information Security and Gov- ernance Department, Efrem Borg was a speaker, while other MITA experts were asked to contribute by moderating talks. Another important initiative in- cluded the collaboration with the University of Malta to give schol- arships at Masters and Doctorate level to students who would like to specialise in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies. Over three years, Government will be investing €300,000 to of- fer opportunities to students and expand their knowledge in such technologies. Cyber Security When dealing with emerging technologies, one also needs to consider the risks that can occur. In 2016, Government tasked MI- TA with the drafting and launch of a national cyber security strat- egy which included a national awareness campaign. In the last weeks, we have launched the second phase of the campaign, while in the coming years, MITA will be focusing on specific sectors that are more vul- nerable to cyber-attacks. MITA's investment in cyber se- curity is not limited to the aware- ness campaign. This year, MITA has set up a Security Operations Centre to monitor Government systems, while performing pen- etration testing and investigations to assure a smooth running of the Malta Government network. The Agency is adopting interna- tional standards and is learning through collaboration with other Computer Emergency Response Teams. Digital Outreach It was another eventful year when it comes to events re- lated to community outreach. Projects varied from the crea- tion of a platform that can be used by teachers and students alike, to the take-up of pub- lic services made available on mobile. In the latter, MITA worked with the Office of the Princi- pal Permanent Secretary to increase the take-up of mobile services while providing train- ing to 252 public officers. Next year, MITA will be im- plementing other services on mobile which will include on- line payments and identifica- tion through e-ID. Other technology investments As part of the National Digi- tal Strategy 2014-2020 – Digital Malta, MITA is launching the Government Modern Work- place which has been made pos- sible through the Memorandum of Understanding with Micro- soft. Microsoft licences will be up- dated into uniform versions across government, providing increased mobility and collabo- ration within the public sector. This will also provide increased flexibility for Government em- ployees to be able to work from anywhere, at any time and on which device they prefer. Another important investment has been made in the online pay- ment process using 3D Secure. This permits an increased level of security when making Gov- ernment payments using credit cards. Through the 3D Secure, Government is collaborating with the respective banks to confirm if the person using the credit card is really the owner of that card. This year, MITA has also com- pleted the project of building the EIDAS Node which will permit Maltese citizens to use digital services from other EU member states and vice-versa. In rela- tion to this project, MITA also increased the facilities offered through the eID, including differ- ent levels of security. Participating in Malta.ai – a National Strategy in Artificial Intelligence A task force has being entrusted to design a national strategy on Artificial Intelligence with the aim of placing Malta amongst the top 10 nations in the world in AI. One of the members chosen in the task force is MITA's Head of Strategy and Business, Ing. Emanuel Dar- manin. Malta.ai will collaborate with SingularityNET on a pilot project to explore a citizenship test for robots in the process of drafting new regulation for AI. This vision has been launched by the Parlia- mentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, Honourable Silvio Schembri. The Malta.ai taskforce will be chaired by Wayne Grixti. Its members include Angelo Dalli, Antoine Sciberras, Alexei Dingli, Jackie Mallia, Godfrey Vella, Dy- lan Seychell, Abdalla Kablan, Emanuel Darmanin, Francois Piccione, and Wilbert Tabone as secretary. During this year, MITA has helped Government in reaching very important milestones. It has assisted the public service in implementing innovative projects, while involving the private sector as a partner or as a supplier. Moreover, it has guided Government in its IT direction, while investing heavily in the required infrastructure to achieve these goals