Data and the Public Sector with Giuseppe Sollazzo

The UK’s public sector uses vast quantities of data to keep its vital services running. But what's the best way to communicate with the public about these services?

Today’s guest is Giuseppe Sollazzo, who currently heads up data products and services at the Department of Work and Pensions. He’s spent his entire career at the heart of the public sector. Giuseppe initially aspired to be an academic, but one failed Ph.D. later, he realised he needed to be more agile in his career trajectory. This led him into the NHS, the Department for Transport, and placed him squarely at the nexus of how we communicate data across society. 

Giuseppe and his team also pen the famous Quantum of Sollazzo newsletter, which has become a staple in the open data community.

We discuss communicating data to citizens, the role of AI in the public sector, and the UK’s digital skills gap.

00:00 - Intro

02:46 - Legacy systems, public discourse, and information gathering at DWP

06:37 - The role of AI in the public sector

17:36 - The digital skills gap in the public sector

30:10 - Dan's final thoughts

LINKS:

Giuseppe Sollazzo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppesollazzo

The Quantum of Sollazzo: https://puntofisso.net/newsletter/

Dan Klein: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dplklein

Zühlke: https://www.zuehlke.com/en

Welcome to Data Today, a podcast from Zühlke.

We're living in a world of opportunities. But to fully realise them, we have to reshape the way we innovate.

We need to stop siloing data, ring-fencing knowledge and looking at traditional value chains. And that's what this podcast is about. Every two weeks, we’re taking a look at data outside the box to see how amazing individuals from disparate fields and industries are transforming the way they work with data, the challenges they are overcoming, and what we can all learn from them.

Zühlke is a global innovation service provider. We envisage ideas and create new business models for our clients by developing services and products based on new technologies – from the initial vision through development to deployment, production, and operation.