Panel discussion on citizens E-participation in Slovenia

Representatives of the URBAN INNO project and Smart City Maribor initiative replied the invitation to panel discussion entitled ‘E-participation of citizens at decision-making in Slovenian municipalities - opportunities and challenges of local digital democracy’. The event was held in the premises of National council on 10^th November 2017 in Ljubljana within the organization of the Institute for Electronic Participation and American Embassy in Slovenia.

The main purpose of the panel discussion was to address current challenges of the citizen participation at decision making with the use of ICT. The purpose was also to present practical and theoretical examples and to define the needs and expectations regarding e-participation on the local authority level.

Representatives of URBAN INNO project and Smart City Maribor initiative presented project URBAN INNO as the best practice on how the urban innovation projects can contribute to strengthen citizen participation and open innovation through participatory methods in European regions. Practical examples of citizens' cooperation with the city were also presented in the form of participatory tools of Municipality of Maribor, called ‘Let’s improve Maribor’. The practical examples of Municipality of Maribor were again the only actual implemented practices among presented cases.