Each year, a Citizen Jury of more than 1000 Europeans vote on a range of projects in political innovation in order to select the 10 best in each category. The Awards are presented to politicians in recognition of exemplary projects based on core European values of equality, democracy and human rights – regardless of party affiliation or level of government.
Award categories include Democracy, Climate Protection, Social Cohesion, Education, Local Development, and – for the first time this year – Government Improvement, Party Innovation and Democracy Technologies.
Special Focus on Democracy Technologies
The special focus on Democracy Technologies covers some of the most pressing issues regarding digital technologies and democracy. There will be panels on topics such as saving democracy in times of crisis, winning over people for digital participation, and the question of whether AI can replace politicians.
In the Democracy Technologies circle, critical questions around the growing ecosystem of digital participation platforms and tools will be explored. How can Europe support this growing market of democracy technologies? What role should government play? Are binding quality standards necessary?
Speakers include Robert Bjarnason, President of Citizen.is from Iceland; Adrien Duguet, President of Association Civic Tech Europe (ACTE) from Belgium; Jacob Gyldenkærne, CEO of Assembly Voting from Denmark and Wietse Van Ransbeeck, CEO of CitizenLab from Belgium, Isabel Xavier Canning, Director, City of Cascais, Portugal, 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, Courteney Mukoyi for Justice Code from Zimbabwe, Declan Ottaro representing Ushahidi from Kenya, Juliana Sakai for Transparência Brasil from Brasil.
Meet the Finalists
There will also be the opportunity to meet the finalists of the Innovation in Politics Awards and to learn more about what made their projects successful. The Finalists in the Democracy Technologies category are:
- 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
The Awards are held under the auspices Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić; and under the patronage of Vice-President of the European Commission, Dubravka Šuica, and Mayor of Warsaw, Mr Rafał Trzaskowski!
Stay tuned for interviews and more information on the finalists and speakers in the upcoming weeks.
