Sustainable administrative reform needs flexibility, creativity and hands-on mentality
The 6th Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin saw record attendance, highlights the importance of sustainable administrative reform supported by flexibility, creativity, and hands-on mentality. Mark your calendars for the next festival 13-15 June 2024.
More than 1,300 visitors on site, nearly 1,500 viewers online.
- In 73 sessions, 182 speakes, project participants and leaders from 34 countries shared their expertise on administrative innovations at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival.
- For the second time, the Young Faces - Young Spaces Awards were presented as part of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival Awards
- Among the top speakers were CIO of the Federal Government Markus Richter, President of the Federal Office of Administration Christoph Verenkotte, Martina Klement, Chief Digital Officer of the State of Berlin, Parliamentary State Secretary Ekin Deligöz and Katarina Niewiedzial, Commissioner for Integration and Migration of the State of Berlin.
- Press photos are available for download here .
- The recorded sessions from the Mainstage programme are available here: CLICK!.
Berlin, 22 June 2023. Administration can only survive future crises if it overcomes the challenges of modernisation and demographic change and invests in the further training of specialists. This year's Creative Bureaucracy Festival ends with this conclusion and a plea for more flexibility and cooperation between politics and society.
The comprehensive digitisation of the administration, which is still seen as a problem rather than a solution when it comes to implementation at the state and federal level, should "not be an end in itself, but must bring tangible added value for citizens and our administration," according to the new CDO of the state of Berlin, Martina Klement.
Optimisation of administrative processes must involve all parts of society to create a system that works with and not against citizens (Elisa Lindinger, SuperrrLab).
The issue of the shortage of skilled workers must be thought of in a diverse and inclusive way and needs solutions that are oriented to the new social needs of citizens (Ekin Deligöz, BFSFJ).
With the launch of the Policy Club, which is hosted by the EU-funded EIT Culture & Creativity initiative, the focus should also be on innovation and closer cooperation between politics, administration and culture across Europe (Bernd Fesel, EIT Culture & Creativity).
"The topics and impulses presented at the festival show that administration has creative solutions and is ready to implement them. With the participation of all actors from administration, politics, and civil society we can achieve change" says festival director Johanna Sieben.
Innovators from government were honored this year with the Creative Bureaucracy Festival Award in five categories:
- Large Scale Impact - The City of Bogotá: the award went to the City of Bogotá for its continuous innovation capacity that infuses imagination into urban development. Angela Reyes, a member of the city's innovation team responsible for digital transformation and supporting the city's care block, accepted the award on behalf of the city.
- Innovator of the Year - Eric Hubbard: as a senior advisor to the City of Freetown in Sierra Leone, Eric Hubbard designed and implemented several climate adaptation projects. These include the #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign, which aims to plant, digitally record and maintain one million trees by 2023 - a measure that will increase the city's vegetation cover by 50%.
- Power Shifter Award - Kristina Lunz: Kristina Lunz is the founder of the Center for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP). CFFP actively engages with issues and systems whose current status is rooted in patriarchal values and perpetuates systemic violence through capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism.
- Legacy Award - Jaime Lerner: During his 12-year tenure, Lerner developed many of the innovative, low-cost solutions to problems facing the city of Curitiba, Brazil, including in areas of accessible public transportation and waste recycling.
- Young Faces - Young Spaces: For the second time, and for the first time with a European focus, the award for creative participation of young people in the design of public spaces, supported by the Hertie Foundation, was presented. The prize went to the Rise and Shine project from Šentjur, Slovenia for involving children and young people (ages 13-29) in the design of municipal spaces.
Stéphane Beemelmans, Managing Director of the main festival partner PD, says: "The festival has established itself as a place of exchange for innovative, progressive-minded administrators. Together, we discussed how beacon projects can become area beacons. To be effective, change projects need breadth - they should reach as many as possible - and depth - they must encompass the entire process. Above all, citizens must be at the center of administrative action, whether they have a digital affinity or are more dependent on analog offerings. As PD, we are pleased to have helped shape the festival program for the fourth time as the main cooperation partner with our customers."
Next Creative Bureaucracy Festival will take place from 13 till 15 June 2024.
The event is supported by the main festival partners Falling Walls Foundation and PD - Advisor to the Public Sector, as well as numerous other organisations, including the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs, the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, the Hertie Foundation, the German Association for Project Management, the Federal Agency for Leap Innovations, the Federal Foreign Office, and the Berlin Senate Chancellery, among others.
Press Contact:
press@creativebureaucracy.org
ABOUT THE CREATIVE BUREAUCRACY FESTIVAL
The Creative Bureaucracy Festival shines a spotlight on creative solutions to a wide variety of community issues within administration, bringing them center-stage and fostering a dialogue among the individuals and minds behind them. According to its president Charles Landry, the festival stands for a change from a "No, because" culture to a "Yes, if" culture that inspires people to try new things. The festival also aims to strengthen the reputation of the administration and appeal to imaginative young talents. creativebureaucracy.org
ABOUT THE FALLING WALLS FOUNDATION
Since 2009, the non-profit Falling Walls Foundation has been bringing together the most renowned and influential thought leaders from around the world. Nobel Prize winners, start-ups, young scientific talents, research companies, culture, politics and the media discuss the question: "Which are the next walls to fall in science and society?". The Falling Walls Foundation's programmes build bridges be-tween science and society and convey enthusiasm for the work of scientists in all disciplines.falling-walls.com
ABOUT PD – ADVISOR TO THE PUBLIC SECTOR
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
