WAVE at the eParticipation Conference: Current State of Play & Future Directions
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Tuesday, 09 February 2010 11:11 |
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WAVE participated in the eParticipation Conference: Current State of Play & Future Directions organized at the European Parliament (Brussels) on 15 December 2009 by MOMENTUM (a Support Action to eParticipation Project co-funded by the European Commission). The Conference turned to be a huge success thanks to prominent speakers, outstanding attendees and a total of 124 participants.
The participants were welcomed by Anna Triantafillou (MOMENTUM’s Project Coordinator from Athens Technology Center), Mechthild Rohen (European Commission, Head of Unit ICT for Government and Public Services, DG Information Society and Media) and Thanassis Chrissafis (Coordinator, European Commission, DG Information Society and Media). The event was organised around 3 plenary sessions and a discussion:
- Plenary Session 1 - eParticipation Research and Practice Concerning Environmental Issues (moderated by Dr. Julia Glidden from 21c)
- Plenary Session 2 - Digital Policy Making (moderated by Dr. Julia Glidden from 21c)
- Plenary Session 3 - Using the Digital Channel to Have Your Say and Be Heard (moderated by Fraser Henderson from ParticiTech) during which Dr. Vassilios Peristeras (NUIG/DERI)presented WAVE.
- Discussion - Future Direction (moderated by Dr. Maria Wimmer from the University of Koblenz)
The attendees of the Conferences had also a great pleasure to be joined by a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Dr. Paul Rübig and Christophe Nonnenmacher (Press Officer to MEP Sandrine Bélier) via video conference from Strasbourg (France). Both of them presented their insight into and view on the importance of eParticipation projects and ICT solutions towards greater involvement of the EU citizens in the decision-making processes.
The topic of the Conference and of respective plenary sessions turned out to be particularly interesting for the participants as a huge majority of them actively participated by asking the speakers engaging questions. In addition, the attendees had time for networking and to find out more about eParticipation Project co-funded by the European Commission from their representatives during an exhibition of the projects and a cocktail reception, which concluded the Conference.
The WAVE Project obtained valuable feedback from the participants and was also able to exchange information and experiences with other eParticipation projects. The participants were able to ask us questions at our stand and get project-specific information from our representative and by reading WAVE’s brochure, which was also distributed at our stand.
Make sure to watch videos from the Conference on MOMENTUM’s YouTube Channel. You can also find pictures in the Picasa Album.
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