Proven Tool or Flash in the Pan? Open Social Innovation in Public Administration

Gudrun Schwarz, Valentina Cullmann, Johannes Tödte

2021 Collaboration & Communication English Organisational Culture & Governance

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Open Social Innovation formats received a boost to identify and assess societal challenges, as well as to foster creativity and to inspire better policymaking and citizen-centred design of solutions. In this session we discuss the question to what extent these formats can have a sustainable impact and contribute to the common good. Have public administrations found a new working method to drive change and innovation? And if so, under what conditions and for what objectives are they a suitable instrument?

To answer these questions, we will talk with makers and implementers of the hackathon #WirVsVirus and UpdateDeutschland under the auspices of the German Federal Chancellery, the #SmartDevelopmentHack of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission (EC), and the international, digital ideas competition #SolutionsForCities of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community.

Gudrun Schwarz

Deputy Head of Unit/ Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Community

Smart City concepts and their implemetation are exceptional opportunities to foster public participation in decision-making and policy, topics of key interest to Gudrun Schwarz. As deputy head of the the Smart City unit of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, she can look back on a long ministerial career in spatial planning and urban development in Berlin and Bonn.

Valentina Cullmann

Advisor Global Project Digital Transformation - #SmartDevelopmentFund/ GIZ

Valentina Cullmann is an expert for digital innovations and advisor for the global #SmartDevelopmentFund at GIZ, implemented on behalf of the BMZ and EU. She is passionate about bringing innovations to scale around the world and fostering strong partnerships between public entities, tech companies and civil society. Ms. Cullmann holds two master’s in international business and politics and focusses her work on the promotion of entrepreneurship, digital innovation and economic development. Over the last years, she has worked in with start-ups, SMEs and policymakers in countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. She was also responsible for the coordination of the BMZ-EU #SmartDevelopmentHack, an innovative virtual competition bringing together a wide array of partners and receiving over 1,000 submission to help strengthen the Corona response in development countries.

Johannes Tödte

Head of Communications/ ProjectTogether gGmbH

As the head of communcations at ProjectTogether gGmbH, Johannes Tödte is leading all corporate and brand communications activities for a non-profit organisation that develops and implements Open Social Innovation programs in cooperation with partners of the public and private sector. ProjectTogether is a pioneer for social change: We bring together what it takes to test solutions today that will change the world tomorrow. Since 2015, ProjectTogether has supported more than 2,000+ social initiatives in ten programs like #WirVsVirus or UpdateDeutschland.

Beforehand, he worked as communications manager at the Robert Bosch Foundation as well as for MUTIK, and organization funded by the Mercator Foundation Germany, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and the German ministry of education and research (BMBF).

His professional background lies in strategic and brand communication, his academic background in cultural and literary studies (French and English).

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