The 9th Annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium announced four finalists for the 2012 Award for Innovation Leadership -- two in the public sector, one in financial services and another in healthcare. The winner will be announced at the Symposium on May 22.

The award honors Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who pursue innovative use of Information Technology (IT) and business processes to deliver business value, according to the organizers. The two public sector finalists are: Bill Oates, CIO for the City of Boston, and Susan Cooklin, CIO of Network Rail in the U.K.

Announcing the finalists, MIT said that Oates is "charged with spearheading technology initiatives and the delivery of IT services in support of the various city functions. Under his leadership, Boston has been recognized as a leader in leveraging technology to improve citizen engagement and access to services." Cooklin was described as "leading activities that underpin a large and complex technology portfolio focused on reducing the cost of running the railway by 21% by 2014."

The other finalists are Chris Perretta, EVP and CIO, State Street Corp. and Catherine Bruno, VP and CIO at Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS). Perretta leads "a team of over 5,000 employees and contractors supporting operations in 27 countries, covering all major investment centers," and Bruno "has successfully developed Information Systems Strategic Plans and Governance designs at three large, complex healthcare organizations."

For more information and to register for the conference, visit: www.mitcio.com

Amid many reports coming out about the impact of Enterprise 2.0, Accenture has published its own report “Web 2.0 and the Next Generation of Public Service,” specifically addressing public-sector implementations.

The report is more qualitative than quantitative and is based on the company’s experience working with governments around the  world. Accenture says it has developed a Public Service Value  Governance Framework "based on the findings of a series of Global Cities Forums  the company conducted in major metropolitan centers around the world beginning  in 2007". To date, it has conducted 13 forums, with five more later this year, in Austin, Texas; Johannesburg, South Africa; Mexico City,  Mexico; New Delhi, India; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

One key finding: Greg Parston, director of Accenture’s Institute for Public Service Value, says:  “The era of ‘e-government’ is now moving to ‘e-governance’ ... driven by citizens, and  public-sector leaders"  who are trying to figure out "how to use Web 2.0  technologies to improve services to, and more deeply engage with, their  citizens.”

What are your experiences with collaborative technologies? Is it a compliance nightmare or do you find more gain than pain?