Panel: Beyond a gadget for participation, how to bring civic tech to the next level ?
Channel: Ouishare TV
Date: 2017-09-21

If we think that civic tech(nology) was built as a set of methods and tools for citizens to gain back control in their political systems, how does it works in a multi-level system of governance? Let’s take Europe for example; at the local, regional, national and supranational levels, a serie of public and private actors have the ability to participate and influence decision-making. Yet, we observe that the same ability for citizens, to participate and influence decision-making at each level of entry (local, regional, national, supranational) is uneven. Beyond the accessibility obstacles, the power being given is also uneven: participative processes at the local level, although direct, tend to deal mostly with urban planning while, at the supranational level, they tend to be advisory and, imbalanced by corporate lobbies influence. 

Can civic technology overcome this democratic deficit and if so, to what extent? To what extent is the civic tech able to empower citizens to gain back control from institutional decision-makers at every level of power?

Built on this problem we have invited civic tech experts from around the world and, representing the different scales previously outlined; to inform us on the state of the art of civic tech and address the issues at hand.

Lydia Aguirre Pereira
Chief Creative Officer, ReImagine Europa

Amélie Banzet
Head of Open government programme, Etalab

Gunnar Grimsson
Consultant & Propagator, Citizens Foundation & Better News

Ed Maklouf
Writer, Project Designer, Gather

Tiago Peixoto
Senior Public Sector Specialist,  World Bank’s Governance Global Practice