As governments accelerate their artificial intelligence (AI) transformation efforts, the biggest challenge lies not in the technology itself, but in whether institutions can embrace cross-sector collaboration and maintain the humility to continue learning.
“Many people think there is a silver bullet. If you’re in an AI technology startup, you can solve everything. If you’re in government, you can implement all the policies. I don’t think so,” said Juan Kangrawan, UNDP’s regional digital and AI expert.
He spoke to Civic Punks podcast host Derek Alton on the sidelines of the game. GovInsider At the Festival of Innovation (FOI) in Singapore in March this year, Kangrawan shared what he learned during his time in government.
“First of all, humility. Don’t think you’re the best. You know everything. Try to learn from different perspectives and collaborate with people,” he said.
The second is problem-solving ability. Quoting former US President Barack Obama, Kanglawan said the most valuable people in any organization are those who can execute and get results.
“What I need are people who can get things done and solve problems,” he said, adding that this principle applies to anyone working in a startup, government, university or international organization.
From unicorns to social influence
Before joining UNDP, Mr. Kangrawan spent many years working in the private sector in Southeast Asia, including in unicorn companies and smart city initiatives.
His journey into government and international development began through volunteer work between Singapore and Indonesia, where he became involved in public sector projects and social initiatives.
What attracted him was the opportunity to connect technology with policymaking and tangible impact.
“It’s very gratifying because it allows us to marry technology, policy and real-world impact,” he said.
This experience also shaped his belief that innovation cannot develop in isolation and that all disciplines bring valuable perspectives.
Rethinking government pilot projects
Based on his experience working with governments, Kanggrawan noted that public agencies often find it difficult to act quickly due to procurement processes, regulations, and bureaucratic complexities.
He said pilot projects can provide a practical way to experiment quickly while managing risk.
“The pilot is low-hanging fruit. That means low to medium complexity and medium to high impact,” he said.
However, it cautioned against assuming that all pilots should automatically be expanded nationally.
A successful pilot in one state or city may not necessarily be suitable for all regions, especially countries with diverse social, economic, and administrative backgrounds.
“Depending on your needs and how far you want to expand and how many resources you have, three to five states or even 10 states is probably enough,” he added.
Kanggrawan believes that governments need to view pilots not only as a proof of concept (POC) before large-scale implementation, but also as a learning mechanism, such as learning how to deal with failure.
“In a startup, that’s normal. You make mistakes, but you don’t hide it, you admit it, you learn from it, you improve, and you move forward,” he said.
Kanggrawan noted that public institutions often find it difficult to admit failed programs due to political and reputational pressures.
But innovation becomes difficult if we don’t experiment and accept that some efforts will fail.
Putting local lessons into new contexts
Looking ahead, Kangrawan hopes that lessons learned from more mature digital ecosystems like Singapore will be effectively applied to other countries and cities in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, he emphasized that success comes from understanding local conditions and needs, not simply copying existing models.
His long-term focus is to ensure that digital transformation spills over into smaller cities and rural areas, rather than remaining concentrated in metropolitan centres.
“We hope that this combined experience will help with some replication and some implementation in some cities and countries in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
You can watch the entire video below.
