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MPP Policy Capstone Project Group Presents Findings on Digital Transformation in the Public Sector to Digital Agentur GmbH Thüringen

The project group "Strengthening Digital Competencies in Thuringian State Administration", led by Dr. Hasnain Bokhari, conducted a comparative case study analysis and competency mapping to propose specific digital competencies required for administrative roles within the German state of Thuringia.

Project Group on Digitalization at Digital Agentur GmbH Thüringen

On February 4, 2025, final-year MPP students presented their Policy Recommendation Report and its findings at the Digital Agentur GmbH. The policy recommendations are based on a comparative case study analysis that identified key digital competencies for the future workforce in the Thuringian public sector.

In a semester-long exercise, a team of eight MPP students - Kristi Epple, Felipe Ribeiro Mendes, Kwodjo Acquah, Erasmus Akazusi, Maha Aslam, Zeest Bilal, Linda Caceres Leal, and Michael Gyan - worked under the guidance of Dr. Hasnain Bokhari, Head of Digital Policy and Artificial Intelligence at the Brandt School. Together, they produced a policy recommendation paper that will help the Digital Agentur GmbH develop a training concept for strengthening digital competencies within the Thuringian state administration.

The Digital Agentur GmbH Thüringen works exclusively on behalf of ministries and state authorities, providing strategic consulting to promote the development and implementation of digitalization strategies within the state of Thuringia. The policy capstone challenge was presented by Mr. Felix Haak, a consultant on digital transformation at the Digital Agentur GmbH. Over the course of the semester, the policy capstone students conducted multiple meetings with Mr. Haak to define the scope and understand the requirements of the policy recommendation paper.

Project Group on Digital Transformation presents at the Digital Agentur GmbH

The policy recommendations on future digital competencies in the public sector, proposed by the MPP students, drew on European and international digital competency frameworks. The capstone students conducted a benchmarking analysis that comparatively examined digitalization initiatives within Germany (in the states of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia) as well as in Spain (Ikanos Initiative), Italy (Syllabus for Public Administration), and Denmark (Government Digital Academy). This analysis resulted in ten recommendations and implementation suggestions that would help strengthen specific digital competencies across all levels of administration within Thuringia.

As part of their research, the project group had the opportunity to visit the byte: Bavarian Agency for Digital Transformation in Munich in January 2025, where they gained valuable insights from practitioners and experts in the field, further enriching their understanding of digital transformation in the public sector.

The Digital Agentur GmbH and the Brandt School have successfully partnered on numerous policy capstones to develop actionable policy recommendations that have informed the digitalization strategy for Thuringia, as well as the digitalization of vocational education in the region.

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