Fondation EurActiv PoliTech awards European prize in World e-Democracy awards

Yesterday evening, Fondation EurActiv PoliTech handed out the European award in the 2011 eDemocracy Awards to the Icelandic Citizens Foundation at the Quai d’Orsay. The ceremony took place next to the salon de l’Horloge, the prestigious venue of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs where Robert Schuman called for a United Europe in 1950. Fondation EurActiv PoliTech is the World e-Democracy Awards’ European partner. 

The Citizens Foundation (website: www.citizens.is) promotes democracy online. Like most Icelandic citizens, Gunnar Grimsson and Robert Bjarnason, the Citizens Foundation founders, took part in the online drafting of a new Icelandic constitution. The Icelandic ‘Shadow Parliament’ and a ‘Better Reykjavik’ are two successful online platforms developed by the foundation to encourage dialogue and debate amongst Iceland’s citizens and their representatives. 

Gunnar Grimsson stated: “We sincerely hope that the open active democracy platforms we developed, our own experiences and not least the lessons learned from Iceland’s history will contribute to further improve transparency and democracy around the world.” Robert Bjarnason, his colleague, continued: “It is our sincere belief that the kind of software we developed can make a difference where people really want to debate, prioritize or discuss ideas that contribute to a better democracy”. 

“Three things characterise the Reykjavik entry. Its impact, its speed and its potential Europeanness.” stated Christophe Leclercq, Founder of Fondation EurActiv PoliTech as he delivered the award. “Firstly, their websites’ impact, because they involved 40% of Reykjavik’s citizens and obtained direct implementation of many proposals in political programmes. Secondly, their speed, as they achieved this in one week, in the run-up to the Reykjavik local elections. And thirdly, their Europeanness. Iceland is a candidate for EU membership. As Europe prepares for European Citizen Initiatives, this can be a source of inspiration for others in Europe.”

The other two short-listed entries in the European e-Democracy awards were Europatweets.eu, founded by Henri Lastenouse, aggregating twitter feeds from EU politicians and experts, and the Scottish Ideas for global citizenship, enabling organisations and individuals involved in development and global citizenship education to share and prioritize their common ideas.

The World e-Gov Forum awarded its overall Grand Prix 2011 to Lina Ben Mhenni, the Tunisian internet activist, blogger and university teacher that became one of the muses of the revolution in Tunisia with her blog A Tunisian Girl. Earlier, she received the prestigious international award for the best blogger in 2011 and was short-listed for the Nobel Prize for Peace this year. Her acceptance speech is to be found on BlogActiv.eu.

The World e-Gov Forum was organised by the Media Acteurs Publics and the city of Issy-les-Moulineaux, a hub of internet and media activity near Paris.

Media contacts:

Dominique Ostyn, Senior Manager Communication & New Media +32(0)2.788.36.88, communication@euractiv.com 

Daniel van Lerberghe, Director Social Media & PoliTech Founder, +32(0)2.788.36.92, socialmedia@euractiv.com 

Christophe Leclercq, Publisher, EurActiv.com, +32(0)2.226.58.13, publisher@euractiv.com

Note to the editor:   

EurActiv and BlogActiv are hosting a debate about federating ideas for European Citizens’ Initiatives on http://eci.blogactiv.eu.

www.EurActiv.com is the independent online media network dedicated to EU policy, counting 609,000 unique visitors monthly together with the Web 2.0 platform BlogActiv.eu. Set up in 1999, the network is an important working instrument for actors (institutions, industry federations, NGOs, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies. The EurActiv Network publishes EU policy news and information in 15 languages from offices in the capitals of 15 European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom and Turkey. The Network's national policy portals are accessible here. 

In order to provide free services and ensure independence, EurActiv's services are financed from four sources: corporate sponsoring, EurActor membership, online advertising and EU projects. General sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: Assembly of European Regions / GE Energy, Enel, First Solar, the Nickel Institute, People First Foundation, United Technologies and VISA Europe. Section sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: ArcelorMittal, Boeing, Camfil, Coca-Cola, Dow, Euro-ciett, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Honeywell, Microsoft, MSD, Swiss Mission to the EU, Trans Adriatic Pipeline, Unilever and Yara. Further supporters include: Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. | EurActiv also has 60 “content partners” (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 “contributors”, providing their policy positions for free publication, based on EurActiv's editorial discretion. Input welcome: editor@euractiv.com. EurActiv content extracts can be re-used freely by other media, subject to clear attribution, and copy sent to content@euractiv.com.