OUR SUPPORTERS
![](https://awards.innovationinpolitics.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/logo_ce-en-pantone-hr.jpg"){kind=logo}
OUR SPEAKERS
Pepijn van Dijk
Executive Director
VVD
Netherlands
Pepijn van Dijk is an entrepreneur by character and an optimist at heart. He currently serves as the director of the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is also a board member with CarbonFix, supporting promising climate innovations.
14:00
The future of political parties
Carla Semedo
Executive Councillor
Health, Social Affairs and Human Rights
Portugal
Carla has extensive experience in volunteering, consultancy and working together with civil society and social sector, with her work and passion being centered around health, social solidarity, equity and social cohesion. She became a member of the Champagnat Foundation in 2014, and in February 2021, Carla joined the Cascais Municipal Council to work on the Vida Cascais project which makes it easier to access social rights. Later on, Carla was elected Councilwoman in the Cascais City Council.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities – Possibilities & Limitations
Declan Ottaro
Director
Ushahidi
Kenya
Declan is passionate about using technology for social impact. As Director of Operations at Ushahidi, he has been privileged to witness firsthand the difference that technology can make in good governance, human rights protection and humanitarian and disaster relief.
Robert Bjarnason
President and Co-Founder
Citizens Foundation
Iceland
Robert Bjarnason co-founded Citizens Foundation in 2008 a non-profit organisation that works with governments and cities to improve democratic infrastructure by developing and establishing participation platforms.
14:00
Can Artificial Intelligence replace politicians?
Louise Pettersson
Project Manager
Centerpartiet
Denmark
Louise Pettersson is a Project Manager for the Swedish Centerpartiet and focuses on organisational development. Her previous roles include Campaign Management and Communications.
14:00
The future of political parties
Wietse Van Ransbeeck
Co-Founder and CEO
CitizenLab
Belgium
Wietse Van Ransbeeck is passionate about participation in democracy and working towards making governments more inclusive and responsive. As such, in 2015, Wietse Co-founded CitizenLab, a technologically innovative platform that increases democratic participation and public decision-making. In 2028, he was recognised in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe.
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Arnaud Pinxteren
Alderman
the Young Child, Citizen Participation and Urban Renewal
Belgium
Arnaud’s background is in Economics, Research and Politics, with passion for the Environment. Prior to his appointment as Alderman of the Young Child, Citizen Participation and Urban Renewal, and the 5th candidate on the Ecolo-Groen list for the City of Brussels in 2018, Arnaud was a researcher at the CORE (UCL), a political advisor in Brussels and has been a member of the Brussels Parliament since 2009 where he works on the Environment, Territorial Development and Infrastructure Committees.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities – Possibilities & Limitations
Adrien Duguet
President
Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE)
France
In 2022, Adrien Duguet was elected the President of Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE), an organisation that works on finding solutions for the challenges democracy faces. To do so, ACTE was founded in 2019 to represent civic techs at the European level. ACTE empowers citizens by making use of ethical technologies to increase participation. Adrien Duguet is also the Co-Founder of Citipo, a platform that supports activist organisations grow.
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Jacob Gyldenkærne
CEO and Founder
Assembly Voting
Denmark
Jacob Gyldenkærne is the CEO and Founder of Assembly Voting, a Danish company providing advanced voting software which documents and proves the integrity of democratic processes in public and private elections. Since the start-up in 2001, more than 42 Million voters in 7400 election events have trusted Assembly Voting's platform and services to handle key democratic processes in societies and member-based organisations around the world.
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Birgitta Ohlsson
Director for Political Parties
National Democratic Institute
USA
Birgitta Ohlsson serves as the National Democratic Institute’s director of political parties. She has over twenty years of experience as a leader at the national level in political parties, leadership, feminism, civil society and foreign policy, among which member of the Swedish Parliament (2002-2018), Swedish Minister for European Affairs and Democracy issues (2010 - 2014) and President of the women´s wing of the Liberal Party (2007-2010).
Courteney Mukoyi
Founder & Director
Justice Code Foundation
Zimbabwe
lawyer, innovator, Founder and Director of Justice Code Foundation- a CivicTech organization based in Zimbabwe using technology to enhance democracy. He is the winner of the 2022 Council of Europe, Democracy Innovation Award.
Juliana Sakai
Executive Director
Transparência Brasil
Brasil
Juliana Sakai is the executive director at Transparência Brasil, where she has been working for ten years. Sakai has an MA in Public Economics, Law, and Politics from Leuphana Universität Lüneburg and a BA in International Relations from the University of São Paulo. She also contributed to Transparency International and UNDP Timor Leste.
Dovydas Kaminkas
Mayor of Taurage district municipality
Lithuania
D.Kaminkas is the mayor of the Tauragė district municipality. He holds a Master of International Law from the University of Copenhagen and in 2017 D. Kaminskas was awarded the Global Lithuania Award for International Experience in Lithuanian Regions, which was presented by the President of the Republic of Lithuania. D. Kaminskas actively participates in community and social activities: he is a member of Tauragė district and city local action groups, the Tauragė’s youth organisation union “Tauragė round table”, the Baltic city union board “Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union”, and he gives motivational lectures for Tauragė’s youth.
15:00
How to translate best practices into local reality?
Beata Klimek
Mayor of Ostrów Wielpolski
Poland
Since 2014 Beata Klimek has been the Mayor of Ostrów Wielkopolski. Since 2015, she has been a member of the Team for Functional Metropolitan and Urban Areas as part of the Joint Commission of the Government and Local Government and the Smart City Forum’s Program Council. Beta Klimek focuses primarily on developing pro- family policy and on acquiring external funds for investments. Equally important for her is environmental protection.
She is the founder of the municipal maternity grant “miejskie becikowe”, introduced in 2015 in Ostrów Wielkopolski. She also launched the Senior Citizen Card and the Participatory Budget. She is among the best polish cities mayors in the N15 ranking published in 2017, 2019 and 2021 by “Newsweek”. In 2021, “for managing the city in the spirit of sustainable development and implementing activities for the development of local government in Poland" she received Złoty Klucz / the Gold Key/, a prestigious award of the magazine "Wprost”. In 2022, she took the 1st place in the ranking “Perły Samorządu” / Pearls of local government/ organised by “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”, in the category of the mayor of the cities up to 100 000 of residents.
15:00
How to translate best practices into local reality?
Marij Preneel
District Mayor, Borgerhout-Antwerpen
Belgium
Marij Preneel (1971) studied Contemporary History at the University of Leuven. Since 2010, she has been alderman and mayor in Borgerhout, district of Antwerp. Borgerhout is very densely populated and has 45 000 inhabitants with 115 nationalities. Participation is a focal point of the district council.
15:00
How to translate best practices into local reality?
Ulrich Hoerning
Deputy Mayor of Leipzig
Germany (requested)
Ulrich Hoerning is the Deputy Mayor for General Services at the City of Leipzig, Germany (pop. 620k). In his role, he is responsible for the operation and modernization of core administrative processes as well as the HR, legal and information technology functions. Across all these functions, deputy mayor Hoerning translates the city’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law into daily operations. In previous public sector positions, Mr. Hoerning worked was a senior economist at the World Bank in Washington, lead a comprehensive administrative reform project at the City of Mannheim and served as a strategy officer at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin. As a project manager with strategy consulting firm Booz & Company, he led projects for private and public sector clients alike in Europe and Asia. Mr. Hoerning holds a diploma in economics from the University of Tübingen (Germany), a certificate from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and a Masters degree from Harvard Kennedy School.
15:00
Local leadership-How to translate best practices into local reality?
Arnau Monterde
Director of Democratic Innovation at Barcelona City Council - Coordinator of Decidim Project, Barcelona (ES)
Spain
Arnau Monterde is Director of Democratic Innovation at Barcelona City Council. He is responsible for the participatory platform decidim.barcelona and one of the co-founders of the decidim.org project. He is also responsible for Canodrom, the Barcelona Centre for Digital and Democratic Innovation, a public innovation and research laboratory working at the intersection between technology, democracy and society. He has coordinated the tecnopolitica.net project at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3-UOC). He participates in several programmes and projects on digital rights, technological sovereignty, open source and democratisation of the network society. He holds a PhD in Information and Knowledge Society from the Open University of Catalonia.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities - Possibilities & Limitations
Pepijn van Dijk
Executive Director
VVD
Netherlands
Pepijn van Dijk is an entrepreneur by character and an optimist at heart. He currently serves as the director of the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is also a board member with CarbonFix, supporting promising climate innovations.
14:00
The future of political parties
Carla Semedo
Executive Councillor
Health, Social Affairs and Human Rights
Portugal
Carla has extensive experience in volunteering, consultancy and working together with civil society and social sector, with her work and passion being centered around health, social solidarity, equity and social cohesion. She became a member of the Champagnat Foundation in 2014, and in February 2021, Carla joined the Cascais Municipal Council to work on the Vida Cascais project which makes it easier to access social rights. Later on, Carla was elected Councilwoman in the Cascais City Council.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities – Possibilities & Limitations
Declan Ottaro
Director
Ushahidi
Kenya
Declan is passionate about using technology for social impact. As Director of Operations at Ushahidi, he has been privileged to witness firsthand the difference that technology can make in good governance, human rights protection and humanitarian and disaster relief.
Robert Bjarnason
President and Co-Founder
Citizens Foundation
Iceland
Robert Bjarnason co-founded Citizens Foundation in 2008 a non-profit organisation that works with governments and cities to improve democratic infrastructure by developing and establishing participation platforms.
15:00
Can Artificial Intelligence replace politicians?
Louise Pettersson
Project Manager
Centerpartiet
Sweden
Louise Pettersson is a Project Manager for the Swedish Centerpartiet and focuses on organisational development. Her previous roles include Campaign Management and Communications.
14:00
The future of political parties
Wietse Van Ransbeeck
Co-Founder and CEO
CitizenLab
Belgium
Wietse Van Ransbeeck is passionate about participation in democracy and working towards making governments more inclusive and responsive. As such, in 2015, Wietse Co-founded CitizenLab, a technologically innovative platform that increases democratic participation and public decision-making. In 2028, he was recognised in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe.
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Arnaud Pinxteren
Alderman
the Young Child, Citizen Participation and Urban Renewal
Belgium
Arnaud’s background is in Economics, Research and Politics, with passion for the Environment. Prior to his appointment as Alderman of the Young Child, Citizen Participation and Urban Renewal, and the 5th candidate on the Ecolo-Groen list for the City of Brussels in 2018, Arnaud was a researcher at the CORE (UCL), a political advisor in Brussels and has been a member of the Brussels Parliament since 2009 where he works on the Environment, Territorial Development and Infrastructure Committees.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities – Possibilities & Limitations
Adrien Duguet
President
Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE)
France
In 2022, Adrien Duguet was elected the President of Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE), an organisation that works on finding solutions for the challenges democracy faces. To do so, ACTE was founded in 2019 to represent civic techs at the European level. ACTE empowers citizens by making use of ethical technologies to increase participation. Adrien Duguet is also the Co-Founder of Citipo, a platform that supports activist organisations grow.
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Jacob Gyldenkærne
CEO and Founder
Assembly Voting
Denmark
Jacob Gyldenkærne is the CEO and Founder of Assembly Voting, a Danish company providing advanced voting software which documents and proves the integrity of democratic processes in public and private elections. Since the start-up in 2001, more than 42 Million voters in 7400 election events have trusted Assembly Voting's platform and services to handle key democratic processes in societies and member-based organisations around the world.
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Birgitta Ohlsson
Director for Political Parties
National Democratic Institute
USA
Birgitta Ohlsson serves as the National Democratic Institute’s director of political parties. She has over twenty years of experience as a leader at the national level in political parties, leadership, feminism, civil society and foreign policy, among which member of the Swedish Parliament (2002-2018), Swedish Minister for European Affairs and Democracy issues (2010 - 2014) and President of the women´s wing of the Liberal Party (2007-2010).
Courteney Mukoyi
Founder & Director
Justice Code Foundation
Zimbabwe
lawyer, innovator, Founder and Director of Justice Code Foundation- a CivicTech organization based in Zimbabwe using technology to enhance democracy. He is the winner of the 2022 Council of Europe, Democracy Innovation Award.
13:00
Saving Democracy - for real
Juliana Sakai
Executive Director
Transparência Brasil
Brasil
Juliana Sakai is the executive director at Transparência Brasil, where she has been working for ten years. Sakai has an MA in Public Economics, Law, and Politics from Leuphana Universität Lüneburg and a BA in International Relations from the University of São Paulo. She also contributed to Transparency International and UNDP Timor Leste.
Dovydas Kaminkas
Mayor of Taurage district municipality
Lithuania
D.Kaminkas is the mayor of the Tauragė district municipality. He holds a Master of International Law from the University of Copenhagen and in 2017 D. Kaminskas was awarded the Global Lithuania Award for International Experience in Lithuanian Regions, which was presented by the President of the Republic of Lithuania. D. Kaminskas actively participates in community and social activities: he is a member of Tauragė district and city local action groups, the Tauragė’s youth organisation union “Tauragė round table”, the Baltic city union board “Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union”, and he gives motivational lectures for Tauragė’s youth.
15:00
Local leadership-How to translate best practices into local reality?
Beata Klimek
Mayor of Ostrów Wielpolski
Poland
Since 2014 Beata Klimek has been the Mayor of Ostrów Wielkopolski. Since 2015, she has been a member of the Team for Functional Metropolitan and Urban Areas as part of the Joint Commission of the Government and Local Government and the Smart City Forum’s Program Council. Beta Klimek focuses primarily on developing pro- family policy and on acquiring external funds for investments. Equally important for her is environmental protection.
She is the founder of the municipal maternity grant “miejskie becikowe”, introduced in 2015 in Ostrów Wielkopolski. She also launched the Senior Citizen Card and the Participatory Budget. She is among the best polish cities mayors in the N15 ranking published in 2017, 2019 and 2021 by “Newsweek”. In 2021, “for managing the city in the spirit of sustainable development and implementing activities for the development of local government in Poland" she received Złoty Klucz / the Gold Key/, a prestigious award of the magazine "Wprost”. In 2022, she took the 1st place in the ranking “Perły Samorządu” / Pearls of local government/ organised by “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”, in the category of the mayor of the cities up to 100 000 of residents.
15:00
Local leadership-How to translate best practices into local reality?
Marij Preneel
District Mayor, Borgerhout-Antwerpen
Belgium
Marij Preneel (1971) studied Contemporary History at the University of Leuven. Since 2010, she has been alderman and mayor in Borgerhout, district of Antwerp. Borgerhout is very densely populated and has 45 000 inhabitants with 115 nationalities. Participation is a focal point of the district council.
15:00
Local leadership-How to translate best practices into local reality?
Ulrich Hoerning
Deputy Mayor of Leipzig
Germany (requested)
Ulrich Hoerning is the Deputy Mayor for General Services at the City of Leipzig, Germany (pop. 620k). In his role, he is responsible for the operation and modernization of core administrative processes as well as the HR, legal and information technology functions. Across all these functions, deputy mayor Hoerning translates the city’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law into daily operations. In previous public sector positions, Mr. Hoerning worked was a senior economist at the World Bank in Washington, lead a comprehensive administrative reform project at the City of Mannheim and served as a strategy officer at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin. As a project manager with strategy consulting firm Booz & Company, he led projects for private and public sector clients alike in Europe and Asia. Mr. Hoerning holds a diploma in economics from the University of Tübingen (Germany), a certificate from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and a Masters degree from Harvard Kennedy School.
15:00
Local leadership-How to translate best practices into local reality?
Arnau Monterde
Director of Democratic Innovation at Barcelona City Council - Coordinator of Decidim Project, Barcelona (ES)
Spain
Arnau Monterde is Director of Democratic Innovation at Barcelona City Council. He is responsible for the participatory platform decidim.barcelona and one of the co-founders of the decidim.org project. He is also responsible for Canodrom, the Barcelona Centre for Digital and Democratic Innovation, a public innovation and research laboratory working at the intersection between technology, democracy and society. He has coordinated the tecnopolitica.net project at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3-UOC). He participates in several programmes and projects on digital rights, technological sovereignty, open source and democratisation of the network society. He holds a PhD in Information and Knowledge Society from the Open University of Catalonia.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities - Possibilities & Limitations
All Speakers
Pepijn van Dijk
Executive Director
VVD
Netherlands
Carla Semedo
Executive Councillor
Health, Social Affairs and Human Rights
Portugal
Declan Ottaro
Director
Ushahidi
Kenya
Robert Bjarnason
President and Co-Founder
Citizens Foundation
Iceland
Louise Pettersson
Project Manager
Centerpartiet
Sweden
Wietse Van Ransbeeck
Co-Founder and CEO
CitizenLab
Belgium
Arnaud Pinxteren
Alderman
The Young Child, Citizen
Participation and Urban Renewal
Belgium
Adrien Duguet
President
Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE)
France
Jacob Gyldenkærne
CEO and Founder
Assembly Voting
Denmark
Birgitta Ohlsson
Director
Political Parties National
Democratic Institute
USA
Courteney Mukoyi
Founder & Director
Justice Code Foundation
Zimbabwe
Juliana Sakai
Executive Director
Transparência Brasil
Brasil
Dovydas Kaminkas
Mayor of Taurage district municipality
Lithuania
Beata Klimek
Mayor of Ostrów Wielpolski
Poland
Marij Preneel
District Mayor, Borgerhout-Antwerpen
Belgium
Ulrich Hoerning
Deputy Mayor of Leipzig
Germany (requested)
About the Innovation in Politics Awards
The annual Innovation in Politics Awards recognise creative politicians from across Europe who are breaking new ground with innovative solutions for today’s challenges. The Awards are presented to those politicians in recognition of their exemplary projects based on European values of social balance, democracy and human rights – regardless of their party affiliation or level of government.
Each year, a Citizen Jury of more than 1,000 Europeans evaluate all projects to determine the finalists and winners in the Awards’ categories: democracy, climate protection, democracy technologies, government improvement, social cohesion, local development, education, and party innovation.
Programme
09:30
Open Doors
10:00
Welcome
10:15 - 11:00
Exchange with the Awards Finalists: Democracy Technologies
Join the Finalists in the Awards category Democracy Technologies, who were chosen by a jury of over 1,000 citizens. In these projects, technologies were used in democratic processes with a focus on citizen participation.
In this exchange format, they will present their exemplary projects and answer your questions about what went well, what they would do differently today and what we can learn from them.
Speakers:
Finalists of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2023
10:15
Exchange with the awards finalists: Democracy, Government Improvement and Local Development
Join the Finalists of the categories Democracy, Government Improvement, and Local Development. Tap into projects that are building stronger democracies by enhancing participation in decision making and embracing democratic values. Meet project owners who improve the work of public institutions, advance government performance and make government services more transparent, accountable and fit for the future. Discover the projects that foster local initiatives, embrace local economy, promote regional cooperation and development.
Speakers:
Finalists of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2023
11:00
Winning Hearts, Minds and Votes – with Online Participation
Welcome to a sales pitch for participatory democracy. Bringing thousands or even millions of citizens online together to struggle things out and develop policies – that’s new to representative democracy, and it’s a challenge. See in this session what works best, where online participation and deliberation is most useful, how to get more citizens on board – and which technologies can help.
Speakers:
Isabel Xavier Canning, Director, City of Cascais, Portugal
Additional speakers will be named shortly
This session is curated by our partner PARTICIPATION FACTORY.
11:00
Exchange with the awards finalists: Climate Protection, Education and Social Cohesion
Dive into the most innovative political projects in the field of Education, Social Cohesion and Climate Protection. Meet innovators that promote and facilitate life-long learning, providing knowledge as well as skills needed by resilient communities and individuals. Join us at a session which shines light on projects that help secure a safe living environment and a positive standard of living for all members of all communities. Last but not least, get inspired by innovative political solutions to tackle climate change and address pressing issues such as sustainable energy, mobility, or housing.
Speakers:
Finalists of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2023
12:00 – 13:00
Lunch Break
13:00
Saving Democracy - for real
Attacks on democracy have shown that digital participation is vital for civil societies in their effort to overcome authoritarian threats. In times of crisis, different rules apply – fewer regulations, smaller budgets and more urgent demands set the stage for democracy technologies. In this session, people who have decisively contributed to saving democracy in their countries will provide their know-how, and tell us what Europe can learn from it.
Speakers:
- Courteney Mukoyi, Justice Code, Zimbabwe
- Declan Ottaro, Ushahidi, Kenya
- Juliana Sakai, Transparência Brasil, Brasil
14:00
Democracy Technologies Circle
Democracy technologies are flourishing and a growing ecosystem of platforms and tools is evolving in Europe. This “new democratic infrastructure” has strong impact on politics and government in Europe. Should it be controlled by governments? Should we develop binding quality standards? What can we do to support the growing market of democracy technologies in Europe? In this session, representatives of the industry and of institutions will provide their expertise and vision for the development of this new market in Europe.
Speakers:
- Adrien Duguet, President of Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE), France.
- Jacob Gyldenkærne, CEO of Assembly Voting, Denmark
- Wietse Van Ransbeeck, CEO of CitizenLab, Belgium.
14:00
The future of Political Parties
Trust in political parties is at an all-time low. Many see them as part of the problem of democratic decline. A growing movement even envisages democracy without them. If political parties are to have a future, they must change. What needs to change is less clear - but the key question is how political parties can actually change.
This panel brings together expert practitioners from the front line of European party politics. They will all share their first-hand experiences and views on party innovation.
Speakers:
- Pepijn van Dijk, Executive Director, VVD
- Birgitta Ohlsson, Director for Political Parties, National Democratic Institute.
- Louise Pettersson, Project Manager, Centerpartiet.
14:00
Digital Participation in Cities – Possibilities & Limitations
The experts of the European Capital of Democracy City Network discuss strengths and weaknesses of digital participation formats in the urban context. The discussion will explore whether digital tools and processes really deliver in practice what they promise in theory. The panel will illuminate questions, such as: How can silent groups be reached and involved? Can digital tools improve the outcome and sustainability of engagement processes? And many more.
About City Network
The City Network consists of democracy and participation experts from cities which applied to become a European Capital of Democracy. This network of currently thirteen cities provides a platform to showcase how we can change the ways we become involved in and decide political developments for the better. Representatives of the cities come together regularly to share their expertise and best practices in democracy promotion at the municipal level.
Speakers:
- Arnaud Pinxteren, Alderman of the Young Child, Citizen Participation and Urban Renewal
- Carla Semedo, Executive Councillor for Health, Social Affairs and Human Rights
- Arnau Monterde - Director of Democratic Innovation at Barcelona City Council - Coordinator of Decidim Project, Barcelona (ES)
15:00
Can Artificial Intelligence replace politicians?
Your digital press secretary may already exist. Health care and travel systems are being improved with artificial intelligence. Politicians around the globe lately use AI to write laws and speeches. Where does this lead to? Where does it stop? Will politics lose control?
This session is about the potential role of AI in governments and political work. Experts in the field of AI and government provide insights into their work and vision.
Speakers:
- Robert Bjarnason, President of Citizen.is, Iceland.
- Tim Gordon, Founder of Best Practice AI and former CEO of Liberal Democrats, United Kingdom.
- Dagmar Monett, Professor of Computer Science, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany.
15:00
Exchange with the Awards Finalists: Party Innovation
Party innovation is essential for democratic change to occur. Join us for a session that acknowledges the importance of up-to-date political party organisations and guides you through exemplary projects that make political parties more accessible and motivate citizens to engage in political work.
Speakers:
- Finalists of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2023
15:00
Local leadership-How to translate best practices into local reality?
Best practices are a great source of inspiration but what does it take for decision-makers to actually learn from and implement them? Following up on the Innovation in Politics Awards extensive collection of Best Practices, this panel explores how best practices can be translated into diverse local contexts.
Members of the ACT NOW Mayors’ Network share their experiences and discuss possibilities and obstacles of the implementation process.
Speakers:
- Dovydas Kaminkas, Mayor of Taurage district municipality, Lithuania
- Beata Klimek, Mayor of Ostrów Wielpolski, Poland
- Marij Preneel, District Mayor, Borgerhout-Antwerpen, Belgium
- Ulrich Hoerning, Deputy Mayor of Leipzig, Germany (requested)
16:00 – 17:00
One-on-one exchange
THE GALA
19:00
Open doors
19:30
Opening/ Welcome address
19:35
Gala Ceremony – Discover the winners in the categories: Democracy, Social Cohesion, Education, Local Development
20:15
Keynote
Keynote Address
20:45
Gala Ceremony – Discover the winners in the categories: Party Innovation, Democracy Technologies, Climate Protection, Government Improvement
21:30
Dinner
Finalists
- 4 Day Week Campaign, United Kingdom
- Improving the Living Environment in Kedainiai District Municipality, Lithuania
- Innovation.linz.at – Citizen Participation Platform, Austria
- Megafon – My Voice for My Neighbourhood, Belgium
- Nothing about youth without youth!, Lithuania
- Participatory Methods in the Process of Revitalisation, Poland
- Politik Akademie der Vielfalt (Politics Academy of Diversity, Germany
- Vienna Climate Teams, Austria
- WoMeN’s Regional Caucus, Ireland
- Youth Travel Card, Ireland
- Amorgorama, Greece
- Hamburger Gründachstrategie (Hamburg’s Green Roof Strategy), Germany
- Just Go Zero Tilos, Greece
- Mettons fin au #GaspillageAlimentaire en Europe! (#StopFoodWaste in Europe!), France
- People-Owned Wind Turbine Against Fuel Poverty, United Kingdom
- Poligono Circular, Spain
- Rexcatering – for intelligent food consumption, Spain
- Rybnik’s Model of Action for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Poland
- Tamarinden – where people meet and buildings share energy, Sweden
- Tirana Orbital Forest, Albania
- Digital Participation in Legislation in Latvia, Latvia
- Gdynia Dialogue Platform, Poland
- Helsinki Youth Budget – Participatory Budgeting with Youth, Finland
- Kyiv Digital – Public Services and E-Democracy in one App, Ukraine
- Open Parliament TV, Germany
- Participatory Budgeting in Rybnik, Poland
- PLACEm – the Democracy-App, Germany
- Smart Maps – Information at a glance, Slovakia
- The Local Level of Rahvaalgatus.ee – People’s Initiative, Estonia
- Valongo Switch to Innovation, Portugal
- Bridging the Digital Gap (AL21, Cyberkiosks, and Smart Centres), Spain
- BRISE-Vienna, Austria
- Communication without barriers, Slovakia
- Design-Thinking Reform of Support Measures in the Estonian Public Sector, Estonia
- Easy-to-Read: enhancing information accessibility in the public sector, Lithuania
- Gdynia – Deaf-Friendly City, Poland
- Suomi.fi Quality Tools, Finland
- TEP – Transparency in Private Entities, Spain
- Vorarlberg mitdenken & Bürger*innenrat – Faire Wahlen (Digital Consultation Platform & Citizens Council – Fair Elections), Austria
- War & Sanctions Database, Ukraine
- Anstellung und Bezahlte Pflege für Angehörige – Employment and paid care for relatives, Austria
- Creative Home(less), Lithuania
- Feel Free, Belgium
- HEROES Berlin – against oppression in the name of honour, Germany
- Housing and Work for the Homeless, Greece
- OV-Coaches for Public Transport, The Netherlands
- Points4Action, Austria
- Second Home for Ukraine – Connecting Communities, Organisations and Individuals in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Solution for Vertical Transportation-Assistance, France
- The Family Card, Spain
- Cultural H.ID.RA.N.T. (Cultural Hidden IDentities ReAppear through Networks of WaTer), Greece
- H22: the making of a smarter, thoughtful, and sustainable city, Sweden
- Improving Energy Efficiency in Lithuania, Lithuania
- International House Vilnius, Lithuania
- Kindred LCR, United Kingdom
- Madrid Innovation Sandbox, Spain
- MAGMA : the world’s first job guarantee project for long-term unemployed, Austria
- Mobilli – accelerating a modal shift to public transport at a regional level, Belgium
- Reims Grand Centre, France
- Wiener Gusto: the new organic brand from the City of Vienna, Austria
- Ausbildungscampus (Training Campus): Advise, Education, Accompaniment, Encounter, Social Cohesion, Germany
- Creating STEAM – An Open-Access Centre, Lithuania
- Digital Transformation of Education (EdTech), Lithuania
- Entrepreneurial Kids, Poland
- Escuela de Pequeñ@s Cientific@s Espiciencia (School of Little Scientists), Spain
- future_fabric: demokratie digital denken (thinking democracy digitally), Germany
- HackShield in the Class, The Netherlands
- Municipal University of Ilion: paving the way towards a sustainable learning city, Greece
- Preschoolers from Ostrów Wielkopolski Catch the Rain, Poland
- Sophia: the world’s first chatbot for survivors of domestic violence, Switzerland
- Brand New Bundestag, Germany
- Camp Bratislava – Embracing emerging leaders, Slovakia
- Empowering a Party for Agile Interactions, Germany
- Engaging Citizens in Deliberative Assemblies and Presenting their Proposals in the Brussels’ Parliament, Belgium
- Il fera beau demain – Mouvement positif (Tomorrow will be Sunny – Positive Movement), Belgium
- JoinPolitics: empowering more talent to join politics and incubate innovative approaches for party politics, Germany
- Online Voting in the Hungarian Opposition Primaries, Hungary
- Podemos Participation System, Spain
- Policy Sprint: fostering cross-party collaboration for effective political solutions, Switzerland
- Primarie Siciliane del Campo Progressista (Progressive Primaries in Sicily), Italy
All Finalists
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Maxi Mustermensch
Innovation in Politics Institute
Tickets
Reserve your ticket now, as we will be fully booked.
If you have any questions please contact us at office@innovationinpolitics.eu
- Finalists of the Innovation in Politics Awards and companions (all years)
- Government representatives, public officials, politicians and their staff
- Party managers and NGO representatives
- Media, academia and students
- Philanthropic foundations
- Representatives of companies
THE VENUE
The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw is the venue for this year’s Innovation in Politics Awards.
The palace is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the beautiful city of Warsaw. Standing (very) tall since 1955, the building was gifted to Poland by the Soviet Union. Today, the palace symbolises Poland’s rich and complex history and we are excited to be able to host this year’s Innovation in Politics Awards in this historical venue.
If you travel to Warsaw by train, your best option is to arrive at Warszawa Centralna. From there, you can walk to the venue within a few minutes.
If you arrive elsewhere, you can take the metro line M2 to the station Centrum, which is located right next to the venue.
If you fly to Warsaw, you will arrive at the Chopin Airport. From there, you have several options to get to the Palace of Culture and Science. You can take a taxi or public transportation. The bus line 175 will take you close to Warszawa Centralna, from where you can walk to the venue. The train line S3 also goes directly from the airport to the central train station.
If you are coming to Poland with a car, you can either leave your car at the accommodation and use public transportation, or park directly at the Palace of Culture and Science. The parking garage at the venue is available 24/7, but charges up to 25 euros for 24 hours of parking.
If you want to take a taxi, you can flag down one of the many taxis that are located around the Chopin Airport or the Warsaw city centre. Alternatively, you can call a taxi company to book a ride. The popular company Warsaw Taxi can be reached under this phone number: +48 60 119 1919
Previous Awards events
Our Partners
