New Chief Digital Officer of Sweden

More and more nations and municipalities are changing their management structure to reflect the digitization process in the world. 

• Åsa Zetterberg took overall responsibility for Sweden's digitization when the government appointed her the Chief Digital Officer. The role of digital director, or chief digital officer (CDO), has become a common term in both the business and public sectors in recent years. Vancouver appointed its first CDO in 2013, New York in 2016 and last August, the position was created in London. Now it's Sweden's turn.

• Åsa Zetterberg took office on January 15, following an agreement between Minister of Digital Affairs Peter Eriksson (MP) and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (S). She has many years of experience in digitalization work in Sweden's municipalities and county councils (SKL, Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting) as former section head for digitization and she has participated in both the Swedish Government's Board of Digitization and the Digitalization Commission. Zetterberg will be responsible for pushing for the implementation of the government's digitization strategy.

• “We are in the middle of one of the biggest structural changes in our time. Sweden has not had such a role in the past, so [my job] will partly be about how this new function works best and in what way,“ Zetterberg told Swedish media. The government's digitization strategy was published in the spring of 2017. It is based on five different sub-goals, covering everything from infrastructure and broadband to making technology available for people who have not grown up with a smartphone or reading tablet. The strategy also covers issues like online abuse and digital security threats.