The Creative Bureaucracy Festival 2023

• 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.

The Digital Kick-Off Day in 2023 took place on 23 March 2023, 09:00 – 17:00 (CET) and counted almost 2,000 digital participants from 77 countries, with 40 programme sessions and over 100 speakers from 20 countries, as well as over 10,000 votes cast to elect this year’s community voting winners! Did you miss one or more of the sessions? Visit our Content Library where we uploaded all online sessions of the 2023 programme for you.