European Democracy Capital Vienna 2025
WSA GRAND JURY 2024
Get to know event together with the ICNM lead Initiative ProEuropeanValuesAT

Futurizing Democracy: Digital Turning Points
Current Threats and Creative Solution

Insights into troubled democracy from 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Arab and Latin American world and creative solutions from best of Vienna Digi Tech R&D

When? Wednesday, January 15, 2025

What time? 17:00 – 19.30

How? Interactive workshop in 4 rounds

Who? Global Digi Innovation Experts meet / exchange with Vienna Researchers and Innovators

For Whom? Decision makers, civil society activists, political reps / elected, social media content creators, educators, and all concerned and people who are ready to act

Where? Albert Schweitzer Haus, Schwarzspanierstraße 13, 1090 Wien

Registration:

Please register ASAP. Participation is limited to 60 persons due to interactive format

Hier zum Event anmelden

Gelebte Demokratie in der digitalisierten Realität – Ist das überhaupt möglich?

Ein Einblick der global größten Herausforderungen & kreativer Lösungsansätze für eine digitale Demokratie.

Im Austausch mit Expert:innen aus 20 verschiedenen Ländern und Kontinenten & Best of Vienna Digital Tech R&D in einem interaktiven Workshop-Format.

Diese Veranstaltung findet auf Englisch statt.

Dazu brauchen wir EUCH:

Entscheidungsträger, Aktivisten der Zivilgesellschaft, politische Vertreter / Gewählte, Content Creator, Pädagogen und alle Betroffenen, die bereit sind zu handeln.

Das interaktive Eventformat bedingt eine begrenzte Teilnehmer:innen-Anzahl – meldet euch bald an, wir freuen uns auf euch!

In einer Bestätigungsmail erhaltet ihr alle Details zum Veranstaltungsort und Format.

Event in cooperation with:​

  • City of Vienna, Stadtrat für Demokratie, coordinating the European Capital for Democracy 2025
  • WWTF -Vienna Science and Technology Fund, funding ICT research in Digital Humanism
  • UIV Urban Innovation Vienna GmbH – the climate and innovation agency of Vienna
  • The Democracy Centre Vienna, active in both research and practical education

The event is a joint effort of ProEuropeanValuesAT and WSA – World Summit Awards Grand Jury

Organization:  Prof. Dr. Peter A. Bruck & Helen Thiele | ICNM | www.icnm.net together Consortium partners

Introductions:​

  • Representation of the European Commission in Austria, Mr. Christian Wigand, Head of Representation
  • City of Vienna Political Intro, Stadtrat für Demokratie, Rep of City Government
  • City of Vienna Digital Tech Intro: Mr. Klemens Himpele, ICT Chief Strategist & Chief Information Officer
  • WWTF – Vienna Science and Technology Fund, Digital Humanism: Mr. Michael Strassnig, Dep. managing director
  • The Democracy Centre Vienna, Ms. Stefanie Fridrik, Program Manager
  • Respekt.net: Mr. Johannes Gärtner, President

Downloads

Process Outline

WWTF Researchers statements handout

WSA Global Experts Statements

Topics

ISSUES of DIGITAL DEMOCRACY: Learning from global contexts ​

The future of democracy will be decided largely in cyberspace, in the highly fragmented digital public sphere. A lot depends on how the foundational values of democracy and the rule of law are emphasized, respected and lived. Social media are powerful forces in shaping societies worldwide. They are used in ways that often call into question the democratic functioning of society and respect for constitutions, the separation of powers and independent justice systems. Many institutions of democracy are undermined leading to loss of public support and action. The democratic public sphere is eroded, segmented, splintered and siloed.

GLOBAL- COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES

Given the challenges of the digital age and the shifting political climate, members of the World Summit Award Grand Jury will take the stage as high-level digital experts, activists and social entrepreneurs and will present their experience and analyses on the following talking points:

  • Current transformations of democratic functioning due to digitalization and social media
  • Developmental dynamics, i.e. short-term gains and long-term losses due to digitization
  • Ways and means to protect, promote and strengthen the awareness of democratic principles and values
  • Range and vision of digital rights and the rule of law for cyberspace
  • Outlook on digital empowerment and participatory democratic practices through a strong and creative civil society.

Speakers

Lernt hier die internationalen Speaker:innen kennen

SPEAKERS from the WSA Global Expert Community

AFRICA

Ms. Dorothy Gordon, ICT4Development Consultant / UNESCO, Ghana,  |  Mr. Madara Ogot, CEO UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networks, University of Nairobi, Kenya | Mr. Tomi Davies, African Business Angel Network (ABAN), Nigeria  |

 

ARAB REGION

Mr. Ali Hilli, Marketing & Communications Director, Miswag, Iraq | Ms. Batoul Husseini, Regional Executive Director, Government Affairs, SAP, Syria/Turkey/UAE  |  Ms. Hania Dimassi, UN ESCWA Economic & Social Commission Western Asia, Jordan |  Ms. Malak Yacout, Founder, The Volunteer Circle, Lebanon |

 

ASIA

Mr. Osama Manzar, CEO and Founder Digital Empowerment Foundation, India | Mr. Ryan Gerseva, Founder & CEO, Virtualahan, Philippines | Mr. Agha Hamza, Country Head, Hello Tomorrow Pakistan Hub, Pakistan | Mr. Witman Hung, CEO, Shenzhen Qianhai Authority,  Hongkong/ China |

 

AMERICAS

Mr. Rodrigo Assumpcao, President & CEO, Dataprev – Government of Brazil, Brazil | Mr. Rudy Laddaga, Founder & CEO, Gnius Club, Mexico, | Ms. Sherry Kennedy, Comm Director, Sustainable Energy for All, Canada |   | Mr. Sachi Wickramage, CEO, 4T Global,  Australia | Ms. Ana Alvarez Monge, Founder & CEO Migrapreneur / Bureaucrazy, Costa Rica |

 

EUROPE

Ms. Olga Rataj, Manager, Global Cleantech Innovation Programme, UNIDO, Poland  | Ms. Lilit Shakhulyan, Co-Founder, Safe YOU, Armenia | Ms. Tanja Wehsely, CEO, Volkshilfe Wien, Austria | Ms. Odeta Iseviciute, COO, NeurochainAI, Lithuania | Ms. Reluca Preluca,  Partner & Senior, Consultant la fonduri-structurale.ro, Romania |  Mr. Martin Vitek, Chairman, Foundation for Entrepreneurship Education, Czech Republic  | Mr. Richard Fekete,  Specialist for Social Banking ERSTE Group, Chairman, Akadémia sociálnej ekonomiky, o.z. / Academy of Social Economy,  Slovakia

VIENNA Digital Humanism Research: Innovations & Creative Solutions

Innovative Vienna RTD Projects selected from the Program on Digital Humanism of the WWTF-Vienna Science and Technology Fund will present their innovations in a short solutions pitch and poster presentation in response to the country statements from international digital experts from up to 20 UN member states. Researchers are asked to consider themselves as solution providers for a specific problematic of digital democracy. Their pitch-presentations of Innovative RTD Projects are a central part of the event. A print handout/ booklet is being published before the event to be shared with registered participants in advance for preparation of discussion and cooperation.

The VIENNA Researchers & Innovators

Mr. Jan Maly Ass. Professor, Institute for Data, Process & Knowledge Management, University of Economics & Business
Citizen-centered democratic innovation: Understanding citizen preferences for participatory budgeting algorithms

Mr. Hossein Kermani, PostDoc, Political Communication Research Group of the University of Vienna
Beyond computational propaganda and bot activism: Investigating social media suppression in authoritarian regimes

Ms. Laura Koesten, PostDoc, Data Visualisiation, Computer Science University of Vienna
Talking charts

Ms. Eugenia Stamboliev, Research Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, University of Vienna
Decentralised Trust in Digitial Societies

Ms. Lisette Espin-Noboa, Postdoc, Complexity Science Hub. Vienna
Humanized Algorithms: Identifying and Mitigating Algorithmic Biases in Social Networks

Mr. Sebastian Tschiatschek, Assoc.Professor, Machine Learning, University of Vienna
Interpretability and Explainability as Drivers to Democracy

Background on ProEuropeanValuesAT: future of democracy, enabled rights, strong civil society

ProEuropeanValuesAT is an initiative of five civil society organizations in Austria which has received EUR 5 Mio. from the European Union Program on Citizenship, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV)

WHAT GOALS?

Given the challenges of the digital age and the shifting political climate, the initiative “ProEuropeanValuesAT” addresses the urgent need to strengthen
  • the protection, promotion, and awareness of European values,
  • fundamental rights and the rule of law in Austria and Europe
  • forward-looking, participatory democratic practices
through a strong and creative civil society.

ProEuropeanValuesAT expands the space for civil society in Austria. It strengthens civil society organizations (CSOs) and their creative activities in two ways:

  1. through capacity building and networking, workshops, fairs, knowhow sessions, mentoring
  2. through full funding with direct grants to proposed activities selected by an independent jury; grant sizes depend on proposals and run between € 5.000 and € 50.000.

The future of democracy will be decided largely in cyberspace, in the highly fragmented digital public sphere. A lot depends on how democratic values are emphasized, respected and lived. Social media are powerful forces in shaping societies worldwide in ways that often call into question the democratic functioning of society and the rule of law. Activist organizations counter the highly emotional, aggressive moods in information space.

Austrian civil society organizations face major challenges in fulfilling their mandates and executing important tasks. Many are finding it increasingly difficult to secure the necessary funding to develop and carry out their activities independently and effectively. The COVID pandemic, inflation rates and the freezing/redistribution of public funding are eroding the basis for civil society organizations.

ProEuropeanValuesAT supports small and grassroots organizations, youth organizations in digital space, women’s rights groups, NGOs working with migrants and marginalized groups, as well as rural and remote civil society organizations. 

Wednesday, January 15, 2025  |  17:00 – 19.30   |  Interactive workshop in 4 rounds |

ProEuropeanValuesAT is organized by a consortium of five partners:

Project Concept and Lead:  Prof. Dr. Peter A. Bruck | President, ICNM | www.icnm.net | Rochusgasse 19, A5020 Salzburg
Project start: 1. Dec. 2024 | Project duration: 42 months | Three capacity building and funding cycles in 2025, 2026, 2027

PROCESS OUTLINE

  • Representation of the European Commission in Austria, Mr. Christian Wigand, Head of Representation
  • City of Vienna Political Intro, Stadtrat für Demokratie, Rep of City Government
  • City of Vienna Digital Tech Intro, Klemens Himpele, ICT Chief Strategist & Chief Information Officer              
  • WWTF -Vienna Science and Technology Fund, Digital Humanism: Michael Strassnig, Dep managing director
  • The Democracy Centre Vienna, Stefanie Fridrik, Program Manager
  • net, Johannes Gärtner, President
  • Dorothy Gordon, ICT4Development Consultant / UNESCO, Ghana
  • Malak Yacout, Founder, The Volunteer Circle, Lebanon
  • Rudy Laddaga, Founder & CEO, Gnius Club
  • Rodrigo Assumpcao, President & CEO, Dataprev – Government of Brazil, Brazil
  • Osama Manzar, CEO and Founder Digital Empowerment Foundation, India
  • Jan Maly, Ass. Professor, Institute Data, Process & Knowledge Management, WU Vienna
  • Hossein Kermani, PostDoc, Political Communication Research Group of the University of Vienna
  • Laura Koesten, PostDoc, Data Visualisiation, Computer Science University of Vienna)
  • Eugenia Stamboliev, Research Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, University of Vienna
  • Lisette Espin-Noboa, Postdoc, Complexity Science Hub. Vienna
  • Sebastian Tschiatschek, Assoc.Professor, Machine Learning, University of Vienna
  • Madara Ogot, CEO UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networks, University of Nairobi, Kenya
  • Tomi Davies, African Business Angel Network (ABAN), Nigeria
  • Ali Hilli, Marketing & Communications Director, Miswag, Iraq
  • Witman Hung, CEO, Shenzhen Qianhai Authority, Hongkong/ China
  • Sachi Wickramage, CEO, 4T Global, Australia
  • Ana Alvarez Monge, Founder & CEO Migrapreneur / Bureaucrazy, Costa Rica
  • Lilit Shakhulyan, Co-Founder, Safe YOU, Armenia
  • Odeta Iseviciute, COO, NeurochainAI, Lithuania
  • Reluca Preluca, Partner & Senior, Consultant la fonduri-structurale.ro, Romania
  • Martin Vitek, Chairman, Foundation for Entrepreneurship Education, Czech Republic
  • Richard Fekete, Specialist for Social Banking ERSTE Group, Chairman, Academy of Social Economy, Slovakia

Networking Round Tables of participants
Discourse & Action futurizing Digital Democracy – NGO queries

Closing Plenary
Learnings & Reports & Networking

End of Event