Institute for Politics and Society is ELF´s member of the month
For the second year in a row, IPPS is hosting the “Digital Czech Republic” ELF event series: Why is the issue of digitalisation taken up so enthusiastically in the Czech Republic?
The new era of digitization will influence the people all over the world. The changes arisen through the up-coming digital revolution can be viewed as a challenge or as a threat. The Institute for Politics and Society has the aim to help prepare the Czech Republic for digitization and make the country competitive and successful.
But there is a gap between the drive and enthusiasm towards digitization expressed by citizens, entrepreneurs, and Czech companies, compared to the more tempered attitude displayed by state institutions. The OECD and the European Union have criticized Czech state institutions for their lukewarm stance towards digitization. The aim of our conference is to identify the most serious problems related to digitization and to try to find answers to questions such as:
- What steps should be taken by the government and public administration as well as state and public institutions to become more efficient and more responsive to the needs of citizens?
- In which areas should the state intervene to enable and support the development of the digital economy?
- How can we prepare for these challenges and what is the best way to prevent new threats?
A considerable number of Czech politicians, including ELF Board Member Martina Dlabajová MEP, are now working on digitalisation and related issues. How do your activities and expertise support their work?
The Institute serves as a platform to bring together politicians, scholars, experts, businessman, and citizens etc. to share, discuss and learn about new topics, issues and problems. In this regard, it is very supportive to all our partners.
This is your first year as a full member in ELF, but you have immediately shown a keen interest to initiate large projects and to actively engage with other member organisations. How do you experience working within the ELF network? And how does it benefit your own work?
The Institute really appreciates the cooperation with ELF and its members. We feel strong support in our effort. The international cooperation is nowadays the most important feature of any kind of progress in our work for (not only Czech) society.
We are still learning all of the processes and procedures. The ELF membership is a great opportunity to further improve ourselves and bring our projects to the top level!
What other activities can we expect from IPPS in the near future?
The Institute for Politics and Society focuses mainly on two wide topics – digitization and European challenges. The think-tank holds two international conferences on these issues in cooperation with ELF and ELF´s members. We find the long-lasting projects meaningful. In this point of view, we stress on several follow-up events for Czech and for international partners.
Read more here.