A Science Base for Digital Governance—Why, What, and How

During the last decades, the evolution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has offered new capabilities to citizens, businesses and administrations worldwide. Governmental units depend more and more on such new technologies, due to their tremendous potential to assist governments in implementing their mission, aiming at enhancing quality of life and promoting sustainable growth. In this course, Digital Governance has been recognized as a well-established application domain, studying the problems related to the needs of public sector organizations and proposing novel methods, frameworks and tools for enhancing service quality and enhancing the collaboration between administration and citizens. Although substantial progress has been made during the last two decades, the lack of scientific method in analysing situations, proposing solutions and applying them in a systematic way is evident, as still the majority of relevant projects and attempts usually fail to deliver on promise. The current chapter aims to contribute towards the establishment of a Science Base for Digital Governance and Transformation that can make such efforts more repeatable and predictable.