Digital Kick-Off Day

The first of our core activities of the year is the Digital Kick-Off Day in March, which offers a packed programme of inspiring examples of creative bureaucracy in action. It is a free online event for everyone across the globe with jury-selected sessions from our global Call for Participation – kicking off a new year of public sector innovation and offering an additional platform for forward-thinking ideas and projects prior to the live festival in Berlin.

The Digital Kick-Off Day in 2024 took place on 21 March and counted more than 2,200 livestream viewers, almost 500 workshop participants and 4,400 podcast episode listeners from 90 countries, as well as 6,500 votes cast to elect this year’s community voting winners!

Until December 2023 we were calling all creative bureaucrats and innovative changemakers to submit their projects and initiatives to become part of the programme. For the first time, the programme comprised three different categories and offered more than 90 Project Showcases, Digital Workshops and Podcast Episodes.

The videos for each Project Showcase are published on our YouTube channel.

About The Day

Registration for the Digital Kick-Off Day livestream in March is free every year. You can watch around 40 project showcases – these are sessions showcasing public sector innovations and various projects and initiatives that demonstrate effective bureaucracy hacking in action.

The livestream runs from 9:00 am until 6:30 pm (CET) and is split into two parts: a German language half and an English language half. The German language programme focuses on projects from the DACH region and the English programme on projects from all other parts the world. Each half starts with a live welcome session from our festival team and special guests. This is followed by a digital exhibition of the successful Call for Participation project showcases.

The day is structured into four programme clusters representing key issues within the creative bureaucracy sphere. You can find a description of each cluster below.

All jury-selected project showcases from our global Call for Participation are part of a community voting. The voting will be open to our community one week prior to the event and closed at the end of the Digital Kick-Off Day. Three winning projects (per language) are announced at the end of the respective programme half and will be offered a programme slot at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival live in Berlin. With your vote you are able to create the programme for the live event together with us! Check out the winners of 2024.

In 2024 the Digital Kick-Off Day offered additional opportunities for exchange and learning. Our community was able to join 22 digital workshops throughout the day and dive into 30 podcast episodes in various languages. Check out and listen to all podcast episodes here.

The full programme with information on all individual sessions and speakers of the Digital Kick-Off Day will usually be published one months before the event.

Programme Clusters

Bureaucracy 2045: Thinking Afresh

Taking a systemic perspective this cluster will present sessions that explore the big questions we should be asking to create the ideal public sector in the future. Future visions, the role of the state and how to change narratives around bureaucracy. Get to know projects that not only fix isolated problems, but are gearing up to change the system.

Transforming How We Work

Let’s look at the organisational side of things. Sessions in this block want to find solutions to the problem of how bureaucracies are structured and what needs to change in how they operate. The need for balancing agility with stability as well as creating cultures of trust and continuous learning are essential to face the emerging challenges of our times.

Delivering Collective Impact

To create effective networks and communities of practice, cross-sector and cross-geography collaborations are crucial. Our programme sessions in this cluster will showcase projects working on how to enable and strengthen these ties and how to catalyze collective action on common goals across all divides.

Living Better Together

Changing the system, organisations, and enabling collaboration between everyone. But what about the citizens? This block includes ideas for how to deal with issues of agency and unlock “the good life” for everyone – projects that deal with equal opportunities, a sustainable future and ways to strengthen social cohesion.

Digital Kick-Off Day