First Festival Programme Highlights

Prepare to fuel your creativity as we reveal the initial glimpses of the forthcoming programme for the seventh edition of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, scheduled for June 13, 2024, in Berlin— only two months away!

In our new venue at Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin, we're introducing new stages, formats, and plenty of opportunities to learn, listen, share, and connect with creative bureaucrats from across the globe. There will be speakers from Germany, Zimbabwe, Canada, the USA, Montenegro, Morocco, Brazil, Cameroon, Singapore, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, the UK, and beyond. Experience four dynamic stages and four immersive workshop tracks shaping the main programme for the festival day. The complete programme schedule will follow at the beginning of May. Even if you’re not able to join us in person in Berlin, you can still be part of the excitement by streaming our Impact Stage programme live for free on the day of the festival via our website.

4 Stages 

Impact Stage

On the Impact Stage, you'll experience more than our Opening and Closing events. Engage in captivating keynotes, engaging panel discussions, and insightful chats, spotlighting innovative initiatives and practical strategies. From igniting hope for democracy to investigating government reform, advocating for female empowerment, and transforming public procurement, our stage explores a variety of subjects. Engage in discussions on administrative modernisation, digital transformation, AI, and improving public projects, leading the way in societal transformation.

We welcome live on stage speakers and partners such as first Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize winner and democracy activist, Namatai Kwekweza (Zimbabwe); author, entrepreneur and FWD50 Co-Founder Alistair Croll (Canada); White House Presidential Innovation Fellows Nina Maturu and Michael Mogensen, a programme commited to unite industry and federal innovators to improve the US government; Former Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media of Montenegro Tamara Srzentić; James Anderson (USA), who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies and our festival partner PD (public sector in-house consultancy Germany).

Connection Stage

Join us at this year's debut open-air stage, the Connection Stage, devoted to fostering collaboration and vibrant communities. Explore culture's influence on connections, compare state modernisation strategies across Asia and Europe, and delve into managing the 24-hour city and night-time governance. Don't miss talks on synthesis, citizen-centric grant management, sustainable procurement, diversity, innovation, and project management essentials for success.

The stage will be joined by Demos Helsinki (Finland); the Project Management Institute, PMI; DigitalService of the German Federal Government; the Bertelsmann Stiftung; byte (Bavarian Agency for Digital Affairs); Founder & CEO of Startup Guide Sissel Hansen (Denmark); Chief Executive of Singapore Academy of Law Yeong Zee Kin; Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Amitendu Palit; our Digital Kick-Off Day Community Voting winners from the German language programme and many more.

Imagination Stage

Welcome to the Imagination Stage, where we reimagine future bureaucracies with foresight and creativity. Explore sessions on crafting visions for innovative change. Engage in discussions on mission-driven bureaucrats, shifting power dynamics, and ensuring access to justice and safe water in rural areas. Discover initiatives such as the African Union's digital & innovation fellowship and discussions on reimagining finance. Join intergenerational dialogue and enhance foresight capabilities for policymaking. Plus, gain insights from young female entrepreneurs.

The Imagination Stage will welcome different speakers like Associate Professor of Public Policy, UCL and author of “Mission Driven Bureaucrats” Dan Honig (UK); the School of International Futures (UK); the Centre for Public Impact; Lecturer at Yale Divinity School and founder of the Caravanserai Collective Abdul-Rehman Malik (USA); Africa Business School professor, Amine Belemlih (Morocco); Lokalprojekte (Germany); the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs BMAS and our Digital Kick-Off Day Community Voting winners from the English language programme.

Transformation Stage

The Transformation Stage explores transformative initiatives and propel action on pressing challenges. Join us for a "GovTech Connect Pitches" session, featuring several startups providing digital solutions to tackle public sector challenges. Explore sessions on engaging young people in politics and administration, sustainable school IT, and mission-oriented funding design.

The stage will be joined by our partners Love Politics (Austria); GovTech Connect (EU); Vielfalt in Amt (diversity in ministries) / Deutschlandstiftung Integration (Germany) and many more.

4 Forums

Introducing our four Forums, a format designed to enable smaller groups to delve into pressing creative bureaucracy sub-topics in highly participatory formats. Each forum features an overarching theme and includes workshops and round tables, providing ample opportunity for engagement, exchange, and deep dives into topics in an engaging way.

FORUM AI

This Forum will be organised by our festival partner PD (public sector in-house consultancy Germany) explores various topics related to AI in the public sector.

FORUM Resilient Futures

This Forum focuses on exploring strategies aimed at building resilience in the public sector for the challenges of the future and will be organised by partners such as the German Federal Ministry of Defence, BMVg; the Konrad Adenauer Foundation; Project Management Institute, PMI and Placemaking Europe.

FORUM Bureaucratic Activism

It's organised by our partners Politics for Tomorrow, the Danish Center for Public-Private Innovation, Dark Matter Labs and Center for Complexity RISD, this Forum explores how to leverage different levels of influence within democratic systems to advocate for societal decisions reflecting the needs of our planetary society.

FORUM Cities: Prototyping Democracy

This Forum is organised together with BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt RISE Cities and discusses in different sessions how cities can serve as experimental grounds for democratic innovation and societal progress.