With Wietse Van Ransbeeck I discuss citizen participation at the local government level. Wietse was discouraged by the existing possibilities to participate in local political processes in his home town in Belgium, and he didn’t want to become a politician. So he founded CitizenLab that provides digital tools and services for local governments that want to integrate the citizens’ opinions and knowledge in local policies. Digitalization is substantially lowering the costs for citizens to have their voices heard. There is great potential in digital tools and we discuss the opportunities they offer, but also some of the risks.
Wietse Van Ransbeeck is the Co-Founder and CEO of CitizenLab, a company that provides a community engagement platform made for local governments that makes it easy to engage their residents, manage inputs, and make informed decisions. He is an impact entrepreneur and determined to rebuild our democracies from the bottom-up. He was recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe leader, and was a Young Transatlantic Innovator Leadership Initiative Fellow in 2018. He graduated with a Master’s Degree in Business Engineering Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.
Show notes with a full transcript and links to all material discussed: https://rulesofthegame.blog/digital-open-local-democracy/
Schedule: 00:00 Introduction / 03:37 Personal questions / 05:07 Main discussion / 39:02 Recommendations by Wietse Van Ransbeeck
Follow Wietse on Twitter (https://twitter.com/WietseVR) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wietsevanransbeeck/).
Check out the website of CitizenLab: https://www.citizenlab.co/
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Many thanks to Ana Margarida Santos who edited the episode and compiled the transcript.
Please enjoy this wide ranging conversation with Wietse Van Ransbeeck.