Russia does not need to vainly repeat the experience of developed  countries in the area of governance, particularly since at present  they are experiencing the same problems, though to a lesser degree, he  said.

In Russia, the problem of effective governance is historical, Gref  said. The two traditional Russian questions: "who is to blame?" and  "what is to be done?" point to the original ineffectiveness of problem  solving in the past and the lack of an answer to the question of what needs to be done to correct the situation, he writes.

The absence of an effective system of governance leads to greater  dependence on the leader of the country or region, Gref believes.

"It has now become obvious that a breakthrough in the area of  effective and quality work of the government is possible if we involve the energy, activism and intellect of our not indifferent citizens in this work," Gref said.

Russia has no other resource in the area of governance, but the  country's reserves of social energy and collective reason are huge and  are on a par with the potential of developed countries. Russian  citizens can solve any problem, Gref said.

"We must raise the question of changing the paradigm for the  activities of government institutions, of the need for a governance  revolution in which civil activism, expertise and oversight will  become an integral part of all processes and phases in the formation  of government decisions," Gref said.

He clarified that he is referring to the real and extensive  involvement of concerned and competent citizens directly in the  process of governance as lay experts, that is, as co-participants and  co-authors of government decisions.

Two conditions are needed to implement this in practice, he said.  "First of all, we need political will. Secondly, we need modern, high- tech systems. Their use is already possible based on the Internet.  Such systems exist in the form of innovation technologies both abroad  and here in Russia," Gref said.

Gref is referring to a new class of innovative network systems that  fall under the umbrella of crowdsourcing, a process of tackling a  clearly formulated problem by involving as many concerned people as  possible and organizing their efforts so that a solution is found.

"Based on the methods of crowdsourcing we can create a new model of  governance, a model for the 21st century. This goal is ambitious, but  fully attainable," Gref said.

He said any system based on crowdsourcing includes four stages:  involvement of concerned citizens in the problem solving process;  organization and stimulation of idea generation; selection of the best  proposals by the participants themselves; and selection of the best  participants based on their contribution to solving the problem.

These four pillars of crowdsourcing are implemented in various ways in  the form of special network software platforms for various types of  problems.

The creation of such crowdsourcing platforms will be one of the main  global trends in the development of information technology in the next  10-15 years, as well as in the technology of corporate and state  management, and Russia needs to be at the forefront of this trend,  Gref said.

He believes the implementation of this new model would set the stage  for a breakthrough in the effectiveness of the country's  modernization, economic growth and higher living standards, lower  social tensions and improve public moral, and improve Russia's  reputation in the world.

Gref said this is completely consistent with the position that Prime  Minister Vladimir Putin voiced during the presidential election  campaign.

A key result of the implementation of crowdsourcing systems will be  the formation of a large pool of lay experts from among the best  participants.

Government policy based on the broad application of the new model  would lead to fundamental social shifts. The distance and estrangement  between the authorities and the public would be reduced. New  opportunities would be created for the career advancement of talented  managers in a transparent system of social elevation. The accountability of government institutions would increase, and the  moral and ethical climate inside these institutions would change, Gref  said.

(Izvestia)