Supporting the OECD on the use of technology for democracy

The Center for the Governance of Change supported the OECD as knowledge partner at the “Getting Civic Tech Right for Democracy” event, where we dived into critical questions to address policy challenges related to the use of technology in democratic governance and discussed the prospects of technology in reinforcing democracy.

The event gathered selected speakers and discussants from OECD member states, and focused on how governments (national and subnational) and other public institutions (parliaments and oversight institutions) can leverage technology to improve citizen-government relations and how to ensure civic tech solutions are fit-for-democracy.

Irene Blázquez, Director of the Center, moderated a panel with Paula Forteza (former Member of Parliament of France), Alicia Combaz (Co-Founder and General Manager, Make.org), Robert Bjarnason (Co-founder and President of Citizens Foundation), and Matt Stempeck (Civic Tech Field Guide and Digital Platform Ranking), on the opportunities of technologies for democratic governance and how governments take advantage of its transformative impact. She also delivered closing remarks with Elsa Pilichowski, Director, Public Governance Directorate, OECD.

Carlos Luca de Tena, Executive Director of the Center, spoke at a panel moderated by Kevin Casas-Zamora (Secretary General, International IDEA), with Renato Simões (Secretary for Social Participation at the Presidency of the Republic, Brazil), Alexandre Quintanilha (Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Science, Member of Parliament, Portugal), Wietse Van Ransbeeck (Founder, CitizenLab) and Henriette Litta (Managing Director, Open Knowledge Foundation). He addressed the risks and enablers for civic tech to reinforce democracy and showcased the findings of our Tech4Democracy, and Digital Revolution and the New Social Contract research programs.

You can read more about these research programs here.