Big news hit the Blogosphere after the father of the term “web 2.0″ Tim O’Reilly announced that there will be a Government 2.0 Summit in Washington DC on September 9-10, 2009. The term government 2.0 reached another level of credibility/buzz with the announcement of this event. I had a gut feeling last year that “gov 2.0″ was going to blow up, but did not think (initially) that another derivative term based on the ever played out “web 2.0″ would make it this far and this fast. Never a dull moment in social media and you never know what the next big thing will be, or in this case maybe I did.

“The task of reinventing government is too important to be left solely to the government. Gov 2.0 Summit, a new government technology conference co-produced by O’Reilly Media and TechWeb, capitalizes on the momentum for change and broad engagement, creating a non-partisan forum for addressing the monumental challenges our nation faces. Gov 2.0 Summit is a place for technologists to rise to the call of public service, offering up their internet expertise to its best and highest purpose.place for technologists to rise to the call of public service, offering up their internet expertise to its best and highest purpose.

Gov 2.0 Summit will bring together policy-makers, elected officials, upper management in city, state, and federal agencies, technology leadership in all levels of government, private-sector internet business leaders, contractors, and consultants to establish high-level thought leadership across the spectrum of stake-holders. The event will frame the important questions before us with the participation of government, industry, non-profits, and academia” – www.gov2summit.com

The conference is centered around three important key questions:

1. How can we use technology to make government more transparent and accountable?
2. How do we bridge the culture of Silicon Valley with the culture of Washington?
3. How can we reinvent the contracting ecosystem, enabling a new model of public-private partnerships for the benefit of both sides?

It will be an interesting event for sure.