This morning I participated in an event organized by Fundación Progreso y Democracia. I had been ask to speak about corruption in Spain. Complementing other panelists that focused on philosophical, regulatory and political aspects, my angle has been about technology as a means to fight it.
You can take different views on corruption and the obstacles that need to be overcome in order to put an end to it, or at least minimize it. What is quite clear in my mind though, is that, at least very least, modern communication technologies are a great weapon against corruption.
Yes, there is a lot of requirements for the fight against corruption to be ultimately successful. Legal reforms need to be put in place, our citizenship needs to take a more active role demanding political accountability, the media need to engage in different ways to produce a new breed journalism that tackles old problems... All that is true, but technology is the great lever to make it all happen.
Affordable and accessible technology enables the design and development of apps and functionalities through which data can be assembled, matched with other data sets and analyzed. From that point there is only one step towards generating that fact (and not source) based journalism that we are longing for. Will that not help mobilize citizens in their demands for greater transparency and accountability? Will this not, in its turn, apply significant pressure for those much needed legal reforms to be put through parliament?
I, for one, believe that is a compelling case. At times it seems some of us spend all our time thinking about business models, and no one ever focuses on country models. This week I read a brilliant article which gave a positive turn on what the current situation means for Spain: we have the talent and the unusual conditions (high unemployment, good weather, stimulating lifestyle, - and excessive real estate capacity, I dare to add-) that could push a great wave of tech start-up based all round transformation.
Will we be, as a society, smart enough to realize it and make changes happen? It remains to be seen, but soon we will face our very own day of reckoning, I am afraid. Is it not the time to be innovative and give it a real try?
