Innovation in Democracy Conference: An overview of the second congress day from Arantzazu

Troughout the second congress day in Arantzazu, the main themes were innovation in democracy and digital technologies. To analyse the interaction between them, Paolo Gerbaudo, from the Complutense University of Madrid, under the title ‘The plebiscitary democracy of reactions on social networks’. n his presentation, he referred to reactive democracy in social networks in order to propose it as part of a more complex process. 

The next speaker was Fang-Jui Chang from Dark Matter Labs, who talked about experiences in linking digital technologies and governance. Fang emphasised the need to shift the reality of representation towards shared responsibility and fostering real agency to bring about positive change. 

In the second part of the day, the programme offered the opportunity to attend different panels: on the one hand, Andoni Eizagirre from Mondragon Unibertsitatea, Antonio Casado from UPV/EHU and Eider Landaberea from the University of Deusto, all members of the research meeting point Ikerketaren elkargunea, presented their reflections on ‘Research on Democracy and Governance in Cooperation’.  

On the one hand, Andoni Eizagirre presented a study on the perception of democracy and presented its main headlines. For her part, Eider Landaberea highlighted the contribution of Ikerketaren elkargunea from the local level among the different approaches of international research on democracy. Finally, Antonio Casado highlighted the tension that exists between research and practice when we want to do something new. 

On the other hand, we learned about the experience of the co-creation ecosystem promoted by Arantzazulab from its members Leire Cancio (Beta), Iranzu Guijarro (Cola BoraBora) and Garazi Camino (MARAKA), in a round table moderated by Ione Ardaiz, director of Arantzazulab’s Renewal of Democracy project. The co-creation ecosystem is an innovation ecosystem for deepening collaborative governance, experimenting with new forms of collaboration.  

At the end of the day, Adam Kahan of Reos Partners, Canada, summarised the main conclusions of the day. In response to several questions, Adam highlighted the need to address the political crisis at the local level. He stressed that the way to address these challenges is through radical collaboration.

The final day of the conference on 11 October will focus on design for innovation in democracy, and participants will have the opportunity to learn about different designs and projects. Deliberative democracy, activating society and transforming governments will be the main themes of the final day of the conference.