“Democracy Needs Bureaucracy”: Voices from the Creative Bureaucracy Festival 2026
- The 9th Creative Bureaucracy Festival brought together more than 2,000 people from politics, business, public administration, and civil society to jointly discuss practical approaches to modernising the state.
- Veronika Grimm, Philipp Amthor, Stefan Evers, Boris Palmer, George Papandreou, Audrey Tang, and more than 200 additional speakers underscored the importance of creative, adaptable bureaucracy for a functioning democracy.
- The tenth edition of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival will take place on 2–3 June 2027 at the Alte Münze in Berlin.
Berlin, 19 June 2026 – At the ninth Creative Bureaucracy Festival, more than 2,000 participants from 50 countries joined 230 speakers across 90 sessions, 10 showcases, and 10 demo stations to explore how bureaucracy can serve as the engine of social renewal and the backbone of a functioning democracy. The central message of the day: bureaucracy must be more than a pragmatic problem-solver — it must hold and deliver a vision of a shared future.
A SPIRIT OF RENEWAL AND CONCRETE IDEAS: VOICES FROM THE CREATIVE BUREAUCRACY FESTIVAL
George Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece, emphasised that good governance does not merely serve citizens — it takes them seriously as co-creators.
Philipp Amthor, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernisation, framed state modernisation as a task of implementation: what is needed are not announcement brochures, but binding roadmaps with measurable impact.
Nathanael Liminski, Head of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, called for a fundamental shift in administrative logic: the focus must move from managing objections to enabling action — as a shared leadership responsibility across all levels of government.
Economist Veronika Grimm urged a sharper focus on what the state should actually do — and do well: too many rules, she argued, ultimately block the very effectiveness they are meant to ensure.
The cultural dimension was brought in by Ólafur Elíasson, recipient of the Creative Bureaucracy Award: public space, he said, is a site of lived democracy — administration must not control people, but enable them to feel seen and empowered.
“The CBF has once again demonstrated how much capacity for innovation exists in public administrations around the world. Through intensive discussion and exchange, we gain vital inspiration for our work on the administration of tomorrow,” said Theresa Twachtmann, Managing Director of main festival partner PD – Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH.
PD Managing Director Philip von Haehling added: “The discussions on digitalisation, AI, resilience, and citizen-centricity showed that this is not about individual technologies — it is about the ability to shape change together. We take this energy with us into the months ahead.”
Charles Landry, founder and president of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, said: “A creative bureaucracy is one that can say yes — that protects us without paralysing, that enables us whilst maintaining fairness, and that renews trust through competence, imagination, and care.”
“Over-regulation is blocking business, government, and citizens alike — which is why international experts on bureaucracy at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival are rightly calling for a once-only culture and more space for experimentation in public administration,” summarised Bernd Fesel, Director of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival.
Further voices from the festival
“Citizens must be co-authors of a shared future.”
— George Papandreou, General Rapporteur on Democracy, Council of Europe
“A culture of outrage and blame is paralyzing our bureaucracy — the media are just one part of that culture. We need to consider what this does to the minds of the people working in public administration. We need to take a step back and acknowledge that there is not always someone to blame.” (inofficial translation)
— Boris Palmer, Mayor of Tübingen
“The real task begins at the top of administrations and runs through to the last link in the chain. These people need someone who stands by them, who protects them, who resolutely advocates for their concerns externally — and who does not, every time a political mistake is made, point downward at some supposedly incompetent administration. Let me be clear: public administration is not incompetent. They simply have a different perspective.” (inofficial translation)
— Stefan Evers, Mayor and Senator for Finance, Berlin
“We restored trust — not through smart cities, but through smarter citizens.”
— Audrey Tang, Cyber Ambassador of the Government of Taiwan
“To make a city livable within today´s climate, you have to take ideology out of the climate debate. People just want to know what you're doing when the next flood comes. You have to be creative to find the right question.”
— Monica Barone, CEO, City of Sydney
“In modernising the state, ministers have two roles: to serve and to enable. That is what makes them a driving force and a focal point for improving the world.” (inofficial translation)
— Wolfgang Schüssel, Former Federal Chancellor of Austria
BERTELSMANN STIFTUNG AWARD FOR TWO OUTSTANDING EDUCATION INITIATIVES
The Change Learning Award of the Bertelsmann Stiftung was presented to the LuPe² network and the BildungslandSachsen2030 initiative. The recognised projects demonstrate that change happens where stakeholders collaborate as equals — and where not only schoolchildren, but all actors within the system become learners. This requires overcoming cherished roles and role divisions within the school system, and stepping outside one's comfort zone.
CREATIVE BUREAUCRACY FESTIVAL MOVES TO A NEW VENUE AND EXPANDS ITS PROGRAMME
Next year's Creative Bureaucracy Festival will take place at a new location: on 2 and 3 June 2027, the Alte Münze in Berlin will open its doors for the festival — marking the tenth anniversary edition with two full public programme days for the first time.
CREATIVE BUREAUCRACY FESTIVAL
2–3 June 2026
Alte Münze | Molkenstraße 31, 10179 Berlin
PRESS CONTACT
Sophie-Theres Guggenberger, Company Spokesperson Falling Walls Foundation
Felix Mihalek, Press Officer Creative Bureaucracy Festival
+49 30 60 98 83 97 80 | press@creativebureaucracy.org
ABOUT THE CREATIVE BUREAUCRACY FESTIVAL
Public administration, too, has excellent, creative solutions for almost every challenge facing society — the Creative Bureaucracy Festival brings them to the stage and the people behind them into conversation.
The festival, in the words of its President Charles Landry, stands for the shift from a “No, because”-culture to a “Yes, if”-culture that embraces new ideas with enthusiasm. In doing so, the festival also aims to strengthen the reputation of public administration and inspire the next generation of creative talent to join it. creativebureaucracy.org
ABOUT THE FALLING WALLS FOUNDATION
The Falling Walls Foundation gGmbH is a Berlin-based non-profit organisation dedicated to strengthening science communication and public engagement with research. Its initiatives bring together international experts to develop breakthrough solutions for global challenges.
In addition to the Falling Walls Science Summit, the Foundation runs the Berlin Science Week and programmes such as Falling Walls Lab, Falling Walls Engage, Falling Walls Venture and Female Science Talents. Since 2020, the Foundation has also hosted the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, an international platform for innovation in the public sector. The Foundation is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, the Berlin Senate, the Hannover Re Foundation, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, PD – Public Sector Advisory, Volkswagen Foundation, and more than 100 additional international philanthropies, academic institutions, companies and NGOs. falling-walls.com/foundation
ABOUT PD – BERATER DER ÖFFENTLICHEN HAND GmbH
As a partner to the public sector, PD combines economic and strategic expertise with in-depth knowledge of the special processes and structures of public sector clients. On this basis, PD offers consulting and management services on all aspects of modern administration with a team of around 1,100 employees.
Clients are exclusively federal, state and local authorities as well as other public bodies and institutions, as PD is itself 100 per cent publicly owned as an in-house consultancy. pd-g.de
ABOUT GPM – GESELLSCHAFT FÜR PROJEKTMANAGEMENT e. V.
“The great challenges of our time are not written into strategy papers — they are delivered through projects. That is why a future-ready public administration needs people who can drive change professionally and translate innovation into practice.”
Peter Thuy, GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e. V.
GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e. V. is a non-profit professional association for project management. Founded in 1979, GPM today spans an extensive network of project management experts from across business, academia, and public institutions.
The association makes a significant contribution to the professionalization and advancement of project management in Germany, offering comprehensive opportunities for training, continuing education, and certification in project management. More information: https://www.gpm-ipma.de/