The Creative Bureaucracy Festival 2023

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
 

• 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.

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.

WARM UP ON 14 JUNE 2023
 

Global Government Innovators Forum

For the first time in 2023, we were expanding the festival with another event: our first Global Government Innovators Forum. Taking place the day before the festival, this forum convenes a hand-selected group of around 60 key actors who are shaping the global public innovation landscape. Through an “unconference” format, we offer space for collective sensemaking in a lightly facilitated structure in which all participants have a voice and collectively decide the agenda for the afternoon.

Invited guests are able to join in discussions, listen to topics, or bring their own and share them in a short summary about their current work and emerging questions within the creative bureaucracy sphere. The event also allows for a deep dive, networking opportunities, and a special dinner with all festival speakers, partners and our global innovators. Have a look at some impressions from the 2023 event here.

Young Creative Bureaucrats

The Young Creative Bureaucrats event is a platform for invited young creative professionals to shape the public sector of tomorrow! 50 young talents get the chance to network in Berlin the day before the Creative Bureaucracy Festival. With inputs and workshops, they receive new perspectives on the future of the public sector from partners and special guests.

We stand for the change from a “no, because” culture to a “yes, if” culture that is enthusiastic about new things. In this way, the festival aims to strengthen the reputation of bureaucracy and, in particular, to appeal to imaginative young people. We invite the next generation of administrative innovators to an exclusive event in Berlin together with PD – Advisors to the Public Sector and the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs.