DUBRAVKA ŠUICA

Since December 2019, Dubravka Šuica is Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Democracy and Demography.

Mrs Šuica is a Croatian politician from the city of Dubrovnik, where she served as its first female mayor and was awarded the 2006 World Mayor Award. Dubravka Šuica entered politics in the 1990s as a Member of the Croatian Democratic Union and served as a Member of the Croatian Parliament and Vice-Chair of the EU Integration Committee. Between 2004 and 2009 she was a Board Member of the Union of the Association of Towns and Municipalities of the Republic of Croatia. During ten years she was President of the Croatian Delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

From 2013 to 2019 Dubravka Šuica served as a Member of the European Parliament. In June 2019, Šuica was elected as first Vice-Chair of EPP Group in the European Parliament.

“Your debate today mirrors the greater role we want to give our citizens in shaping future policies of the Union. Your contribution is indispensable to the success of the Conference on the Future of Europe and to addressing demographic challenges. We need solutions that reflect the ideas and proposals stemming from the local and regional level.”

MARKO PAVIĆ

Marko Pavić was appointed Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds in July 2019. He was previously Minister of Labour and Pension System and State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Pension System before that. He started his career as climate change scientist working at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb and spent two years in the UK and USA on scholarships and doing research on oceanography institutes. He also sailed to Antarctica on the British Antarctic Survey ship to do oceanographic research in Antarctica. He previously worked in private sector as consultant for EU projects and he also worked

in the field of youth employment in the Institute for Vocational Training of Young People in Zagreb. He was also a member of the working group for drafting guidelines for Education, Science and Technology Strategy. He graduated from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science with Master of Science degree in Physics (oceanography and meteorology). Marko Pavić was born in 1979 in Zagreb. He is fluent in English.

SANJAY PRADHAN

Sanjay Pradhan joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as CEO in May 2016. Sanjay leads a partnership of 78 countries, a growing number of local governments, and thousands of civil society organizations, working together to make governments more open, participatory and responsive to citizens. He leads policy dialogue with Heads of States, Ministers and civil society leaders across OGP member countries.

Prior to OGP, Sanjay held three Vice-Presidential positions at the World Bank. Over a 30-year World Bank career, Sanjay led the Bank’s Governance and Anticorruption Strategy, served as Director for Public Sector Governance, launched the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, and led high-level policy dialogue on governance across Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and South Asia.

Sanjay is a global expert on open governance and anticorruption issues, speaking at major world forums, including the TED Global Conference, the UN General Assembly, and the International Anti-

Corruption Conference (IACC).

“At a time when citizen trust in democratic institutions has plummeted, open government approaches - from participatory budgeting in Madrid and Spain, to open contracting in Ukraine and the UK, to lobbying transparency in Ireland - are empowering citizens to shape and oversee government to rebuild trust and ensure governments truly serve their citizens.”

YVES DEJAEGHERE

Yves Dejaeghere worked as a senior researcher in political science at KULeuven and the University of Antwerp. He was a guest professor at KULAK, Université Catholique de Lille (France), Université Saint-Louis Brussels, and still is at University of Antwerp. He was also a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford (UK). He published in major international journals on youth participation in politics, citizenship, electoral participation and on the information processing of elite politicians. Since 2018 he is the coordinator of the G1000 organization. The G1000 is a think tank with international expertise on the use of sortition and deliberative democracy in combination with representative democratic institutions. In this function he has acted as an expert in 2019 amongst others for the European Court of Auditors, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Commission.

“Trust in democracy is meaningless without trust that its citizens will act for the good of their society.”

JOANNA HOWARD

Dr Jo Howard is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex (UK). She leads the IDs participation, inclusion and social change research cluster. Her work focuses on social inclusion, the intersection of inequalities, governance, power, participation and accountability. In her work she uses participatory action research methods with community groups to promote and support processes of accountability, empowerment, citizenship and inclusion; she also convenes short courses and tailored learning processes with NGOs, INGOs and government departments, to enable them to use participatory approaches, reflective practice and increase knowledge exchange. Her work spans the UK social policy field and the international development arena. Her recent research on participation for accountability in Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, India and Uganda, linked findings into the global SDG process. Her doctoral research generated

knowledge about citizenship, agency and barriers to participation in England and Nicaragua.

“Engaging marginalised citizens for good governance requires starting from where they are, and creating opportunities for dialogue, active listening and reflection.”

ROMAN SZELEMEJ

Mayor of Walbrzych, Poland.MD-PhD Roman Szełemej – graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the Wroclaw Medical University. From 1999 deputy, then from 2000 head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology of the Mining Hospital in Wałbrzych. From 2002 director of the Dr. A. Sokołowski Specialist Hospital in Wałbrzych. In 2003 appointed by the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodship as the representative for the consolidation of Wałbrzych hospitals. Since 2005 deputy director for health at the Specialist Hospital in Wałbrzych, then head of the Cardiology Department (until today). In 2008 he took the position of deputy director of the

hospital and was also appointed by the Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship as its plenipotentiary for health policy.

On 26 May 2011 appointed by the prime minister as administrator of Wałbrzych. On 7 August 2011 elected Mayor of the city in the first round. In 2014, he wins the election again, receiving the support of 84% of the voters. In the last elections in 2018, he achieved the best election result in Poland among 107 city mayors, reflecting 84.49%.

Initiator of the establishment and then leader of the Wałbrzych Agglomeration, an agreement signed by 22 municipalities of the Wałbrzych, Świdnik, Kłodzko and Kamienna Góra poviats. The originator and coordinator of the “Sudety 2030” (“Sudetes 2030”) social and economic development strategy, preceded by

the “Sudetes Declaration” – a document in which local government from the Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra subregions express their will to take joint actions to improve living conditions and faster economic development of the southern part of Lower Silesia. The declaration was signed by 106 local governments.

AUDUN HALVORSEN

Audun Halvorsen was appointed State Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2017. Prior to this appointment, he served as State Secretary to the Minister of EEA and EU Affairs (2017), and as Political Adviser to the Minister of Defence (from 2013 to 2017). From 2007 to 2013, Mr Halvorsen held various positions in the Conservative Party's Parliamentary Group, where he served as Political Adviser on defence policy and foreign affairs from 2008 to 2013, and as Political Adviser on defence policy, scrutiny and constitutional affairs from 2007 to 2008. Mr Halvorsen has a Cand Mag. degree in political science, public law and private law from the University of Oslo, and

worked as a research assistant at the University of Oslo's Department of Political Science from 2004 to 2007.

“In order for our societies to develop and prosper, we need vibrant public debate, active citizens and a strong civil society. Through the EEA and Norway Grants scheme, Norway supports active citizens in 15 EU countries.”

DELIA FERREIRA RUBIO

Delia Matilde Ferreira Rubio is the chair of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption movement with presence in over 100 countries. She is also an elected member of the Open Government Partnership’s Civil Society Steering Committee.

Delia is a former president of Poder Ciudadano, Transparency International’s national chapter in Argentina. She has also served as chief advisor for several representatives and senators at the Argentine National Congress and advised the Constitutional Committee of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the National Accounting Office.

Delia has a PhD in law from Madrid’s Complutense University and is the author of numerous publications on democratic culture and political institutions, comparative politics, and public and parliamentary ethics. She was elected to TI’s board in 2008 and 2011 and then again as chair in 2017.

ANDRÉS RODRÍGUEZ-POSE

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose is a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He is a past-President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI). He served as Vice-President of the RSAI and was also Vice-President and Secretary of the European Regional Science Association. He is a regular advisor to several Directorates of the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, the Cities Alliance, the OECD, the International Labour Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Inter-American Development Bank, among others. He is a part-time Professor of Innovation at the University of Stavanger (Norway).

He was awarded the 2018 ERSA Prize in Regional Science, arguably the highest prize in regional science, and has been a holder of a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant and of a prestigious Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award. He has received Doctorates Honoris Causa from Utrecht University (the Netherlands) and Jönköping University (Sweden).

“Engaging citizens from the beginning in the policy-making process not only delivers more transparent and accountable societies, but also more efficient and inclusive policies and leads to far more satisfied citizens.”

JÁNOS BERTÓK

As Acting Deputy Director, Mr. Bertók provides strategic leadership to advance the public governance agenda at the OECD and multilateral fora. Prior to this, he was Head of Division for Integrity and for Public Sector Reform Divisions, supporting policy makers with comparative data, good practices, policy guidelines and practical tools for building a culture of openness and integrity, strengthening accountability, risk-based internal control and effective oversight, strategic public procurement, and innovation in the public sector, among others. He shaped several international instruments, including the OECD Recommendations on Public Integrity (2017); on Public Procurement (2015); on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying (2010), and on Managing Conflict of Interest (2003). He also supported G20 efforts in advancing transparency, accountability and integrity, in particular with good practice reports, principles and guidelines on integrity in infrastructure development

(2019), managing conflict of interest (2018), customs integrity (2016), public procurement (2015), asset disclosures (2012), and protecting whistleblowers (2011/2019), among others

HELEN DARBISHIRE

Founder and director of Madrid-based organisation Access Info Europe, Helen is a human rights activist specialising in the right of access to information (freedom of information). Helen is a member of the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership and the Board of the International Open Data Charter. Helen has advised organizations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the World Bank. Helen holds a degree in Philosophy of Science and Psychology from Durham University, United Kingdom. Resident in Madrid, she speaks English, French and Spanish.

GAVIN HAYMAN

Gavin Hayman is the Executive Director of the Open Contracting Partnership, a silo-busting collaboration across government, businesses, civil society and technologists seeking to open up and transform public contracting, the world’s largest marketplace.

Before that, he was Executive Director for Global Witness where he oversaw their ground-breaking and award-winning investigative and campaigning work uncovering secret deals, corruption and conflict around the world. He helped create the international Publish What You Pay campaign and helped negotiate the intergovernmental Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

He is an expert on illicit financial flows, and helped lead global efforts to end the abuse of anonymous shell companies for money laundering and financial crime at the G8. He has a

Doctorate from the University of Reading on global environmental crime.

NADIA EL-IMAM

My name is Nadia El Imam. I am an engineer and user experience designer. Born in Sweden to African parents and raised in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. I co-founded Edgeryders, an online community of around 6000 humans in more than 80 countries, who are experimenting all kinds of social, economic, lifestyle innovation on ourselves. What provides meaning to my work is when I see individuals and groups rise to their full potential as active contributors to the wellbeing of people and planet.

ANDRIANA SUKOVA

Ms Andriana Sukova is an economist by education. In the past 20 years, she has worked with big national and international teams, being part of governmental and NGO national and international institutions. She started as an economist for an agricultural cooperative farm. Later she joined the ministry of agriculture and forestry as a researcher before taking the position of director of the PHARE programme management unit for several years. She then moved to the world bank office in sofia to work as an operations officer. In 2000 she was appointed a Deputy Minister for Agriculture in charge of European Integration and Rural Development, among other things. Mrs. Sukova has also served as an adviser to the Minister of Finance and has been an executive director of one of the nationally recognized business NGO's. After

Bulgaria's accession to the EU, Ms Sukova joined the cabinet of commissioner for consumer protection Meglena Kuneva. In August 2010 she was appointed Director in DG EMPL. She was in charge of ESF and FEAD policy and legislation preparation, negotiations on the regulatory framework for the 2014-2020 programming period as well as for the implementation of ESF/FEAD in a number of member states. In the last two years Ms Sukova headed the investment directorate being responsible for the European programme for employment and social innovation (EASI), European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) and financial management under shared and direct management. As of March 2018 she was appointed Deputy Director-General of DG EMPL.

Ms Sukova has numerous post-graduate trainings in the UK, Italy, Japan. In 2004 Ms Sukova has participated in the international programme for women leaders in the USA organized by the state department. She is also a co-author of two books: "East-West European Agricultural Trade: the Impact of Association

Agreements" and "Privatisation of Agriculture in New Market Economies: Lessons from Bulgaria" in 1994.

MELANIE STEINBACHER

Melanie Steinbacher is LEADER manager in the region KUUSK, where Melanie leads the regional development agency for 46.000 inhabitants around Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria. This includes the management of two EU funds on a regional level.

Melanie has worked with regional and political development processes since her study of political science and sociology.

After her five year career at the university of Innsbruck as a scientific assistant she puts theory into practice.

Together with a team of five persons she faces challenges from different areas: local economy, tourism, culture, regional products, mobility, youth, natural resources and public welfare. In cooperation with regional stakeholder and the rural local action group projects are implemented to try out innovative solutions. These EU projects are mainly financed by the two EU funds LEADER and ERDF and selected in a participatory bottom up principle within the region KUUSK.

ELENA CALISTRU

Elena Calistru is the chair and founder of Funky Citizens, a Romanian-based NGO. Funky Citizens builds research-based, data-driven advocacy tools. Funky Citizens’ tools aim to be educational and actionable, encouraging citizens to engage in accountability and government responsibility initiatives in which they can see an impact. Elena has more than 10 years of experience in civil society projects, both at national and international level. Her expertise is mainly in the area of good governance, transparency, public finance and advocacy. She strongly believes that data and online tools can empower citizens to influence public sector reform.

OLIVER ESCOBAR

Dr Oliver Escobar is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh; Academic Lead on Democratic Innovation at Edinburgh Futures Institute; and co-director of What Works Scotland, European Smart Urban Intermediaries and Distant Voices. Oliver works on participatory and deliberative democracy, with a focus on political inequalities and the governance of the future. He coordinates the Citizen Participation Network, leads research nationally and internationally, and co-develops social and democratic innovations across civil society and institutional arenas. Oliver’s applied research is shared in fifty publications. He has designed and facilitated dozens of participatory processes in policy and community contexts. In the last decade, he delivered forty courses in public engagement practice with over 600 participants. Prior to working in academia, Oliver published three Galician literature books, contributed to radio programmes, and worked in retail

management and as a labourer in the fishing and construction industries.

Twitter: @OliverEscobar More: http://www.pol.ed.ac.uk/people/academic_staff/oliver_escobar

DOMINIK HIERLEMANN

Dominik Hierlemann is a Senior Expert and Head of the Democracy and Participation in Europe project with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. He created and managed the Citizens’ Forum, initiated by the German Federal President. The Forum involved 25 cities and 10 000 randomly selected participants. He conceived various civic engagement projects and facilitated large-scale events with the Federal President, the Chancellor of Germany as well as European Commissioners.

Dominik teaches at the University of Konstanz on new forms of public participation. He also taught

at the University of Sydney and the International College of Management, Sydney. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Konstanz.

IRENA MOOZOVA

Ms Irena Moozová is a Director at the European Commission for Equality and Union Citizenship in its department for Justice (DG JUST). She is a Czech national and joined the Commission in 2006 as Head of EU Representation in Prague. Between May 2010 and April 2017 she was heading the Unit in charge of supporting the Commission Representations, in the Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM). From 1991 till 2006 she had been working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech and Slovak/Czech Republic in various management positions, such as Head of the Department of Internal Administration (1993-1995), Deputy Director of the Department of the Human Rights (1999-2000) and as a team coordinator at the NATO Summit (2002). She had served as Czech Deputy Ambassador in Madrid (1995-1998), Deputy Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the OSCE in Vienna (2000-2004) and the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the UNESCO in Paris (2004-2006). Ms Moozová graduated from

the Prague Charles University Faculty of Law and has completed postgraduate studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Madrid. She is married and has two daughters.

GRZEGORZ MAKOWSKI

Grzegorz Makowski – holds PhD in sociology, expert of ideaForum and former director of the Public Integrity Program at the Stefan Batory Foundation, assistant professor at the Collegium Civitas. Between 2003 and 2013 senior analyst and head of the Civil Society Program at the Institute of Public Affairs. For years involved in many academic research and non-governmental advocacy projects related to anti-corruption policies, civil society development and civic participation. Since 2012 involved in various research and advocacy activities focused on strengthening whistleblowers’ protection in Poland and Europe.

Initiator and co-author of the Polish citizens’ bill on whistleblowers’ (https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.sygnalista.pl/projekt-ustawy/). Author and editor of number of articles, among others: “The Act on Whistleblower Protection – the need for and the prospects of its introduction in Poland” (Stefan Batory Foundation, 2016), “From Weber to the web… can ICT reduce bureaucratic corruption?” (Springer, 2017), “Law Regarding Civil Society in Poland (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2017); “Diffusion of corruption in Poland” (Ashgate, 2012)

ALEXANDRINA NAJMOWICZ

Alexandrina NAJMOWICZ has been working for more than fifteen years in the third sector and not-for-profit organisations in France and at Europeean level. She is currently Director of the European Civic Forum, a transnational network of over 100 associations across Europe, working to protect civic space, enable civic participation and build civil dialogue for more equality, solidarity and democracy in Europe. In this role, she leads different campaigns and initiatives aiming to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations to stand and act for these values, defend citizens’ rights and become influential in the decision making process. She represents the European Civic Forum in different stakeholders’ groups within the European Commission, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Economic and Social Committee or the Council of Europe

LUIGI MARTIGNETTI

Luigi Martignetti is Secretary General of REVES (European Network of Cities and Regions for the Social Economy). He is member of the EC experts’ group on cohesion policy and member of the jury of the EER, from the Committee of the Regions of the European Union.

Throughout his career, Mr. Martignetti has been and still is involved in various initiatives related to democracy, local development and cohesion policy, cooperative and social enterprise development, employment and social policies, social dialogue, industrial

relationships.

Luigi Martignetti is one of the co-developers and testers of the TSR – territorial social responsibility – approach for local people-based policymaking.

Luigi Martignetti lives in Genoa (IT) and is of Italian nationality. He contributed to publications on social economy, enhanced democracy and communication and gave lectures on EU and Social Economy in Master Courses, among others, at University of Rome and University of Messina.

ANTONIO RELAÑO

Mr. Antonio Relaño is a public official of the municipality of Madrid. He acceded to the position of Attorney of the city council of Madrid´s Legal Department by opposition.

Legal Department, also called “Asesoría Jurídica”, is an executive body. Its functions include providing legal assistance to the Mayor, Governing Council and executive bodies, comprising legal advice and representation and defence in proceedings of Municipal Authority and municipal autonomous bodies and public business entities.

The Attorneys of Madrid Municipal Authority are also responsible for representation and defence of Plenary, Authorities, civil servants and employees of the Municipal Authority or its autonomous bodies and public business entities in legal proceedings. They also may give legal advice to and represent and defend local mercantile companies and foundations with a municipal holding in legal proceedings.

Throughout his 14 years of professional career at Madrid City Council´s Legal Department, Mr. Relaño has intervened in a multitude of issues. Probably the most important issues have been related to public procurement and contracts and many others administrative and public law matters.

Last years he´s been the Attorney of the city council of Madrid´s Legal Department responsible of criminal matters. Thus, he has intervened in several of the most important corruption issues that have occurred in the history of Spain and, of course, also at the municipal level.

Since last July, Mr. Relaño is serving as General Manager of Transparency at Transparencia Government Area in Vice Mayor. CHARLINA VITCHEVA

Charlina Vitcheva was appointed Deputy Director General of the JRC in September 2016. Currently she is also acting DG for JRC.

Previous to this, she was Director of Smart and Sustainable Growth and Southern Europe at DG Regional and Urban Policy, and also held a position in Inclusive Growth, Territorial and Urban Development and Northern Europe.

Before joining the Commission, Charlina spent 15 years in the Bulgarian public administration including at the Permanent Representation in Brussels, dealing mainly with agricultural and fisheries issues.

During this period, she was actively involved in the accession negotiations of Bulgaria and headed, between 2000 and 2004, the

negotiations teams in the area of agriculture and rural development, food safety and fisheries.

LEDA STOTT

Leda is an international specialist in multi-stakeholder collaboration and sustainable development. Over the last 25 years she has managed and conducted partnership research, training and evaluation activities with intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations, World Bank and European Commission, where her recent activities included expert support for the ESF Transnational Platform’s Thematic Network on Partnership (2015-19). Leda has also worked with bilateral development agencies in Germany, Spain and the UK, and a wide range of foundations, businesses and non-governmental organisations. She has a PhD on the topic of partnership from the University of Edinburgh and has taught on postgraduate programmes relating to this theme at universities in the UK, Spain, Norway and South Africa. She is a Research Fellow at the Innovation and Technology for Development Centre at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Learning Advisor for the Partnership Brokers Association.

ZAKIA ELVANG

Zakia is CEO in WE DO DEMOCRACY, where she consults in areas as democracy development, participation and new political culture. She is specialized in development and implementation of welfare models at both organizational and societal level. Zakia advises many international clients and actors in focus areas such as Democracy Festivals, Participatory and Deliberative Democracy and Urban Development. She facilitated the first Citizen Assembly in Copenhagen as process consultant for the Municipality of Copenhagen. Furthermore she is the chairwoman of the Democracy Festivals Association.

ANDREAS ACCARDO

Andreas Accardo is the Head of Unit for Institutional Cooperation & Networks at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). The Fundamental Rights Agency is an Agency of the European Union, providing independent advice to the EU institutions and EU Member States to ensure that the fundamental rights of people living in the EU are protected. Andreas oversees the Agency’s cooperation with its partners with an aim to support each other’s work on human rights. For example, the Agency maintains a Fundamental Rights Platform which brings together more than 700 civil society organisations from across the EU. Andreas has been with the Fundamental Rights Agency since its creation in 2007. Prior to this, he worked in former Yugoslavia with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe where he coordinated institution-building programmes for local governments and national parliaments in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.

CLAUDIA CHWALISZ

Claudia Chwalisz is an expert on democratic innovation, deliberative democracy, populism, and comparative political economy. She is in charge of the area of work on innovative citizen participation at the OECD’s Open Government Unit. She also contributes to Carnegie Europe’s Reshaping European Democracy Project and mentored the 2019 Social Design masters students at the Design Academy Eindhoven. In December 2019, she was a Distinguished International Visitor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra. She is the author of The People’s Verdict: Adding Informed Citizen Voices to Public Decision-making (2017) and The Populist Signal: Why Politics and Democracy Need to Change (2015). She can be found on Twitter at @ClaudiaChwalisz.

EMIL BOC

Emil Boc is serving his fourth term in office as mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the most important city in Romania in terms of size and economic development, after the capital.

Mr. Boc was the president of the Democratic Liberal Party (December 2004 -June 2012), which nominated and supported him as Prime Minister in late 2008. He served as Prime Minister of Romania from December 2008 to February 2012, during one the most difficult economic times in post-communist Romania, thus managing to avoid the global crisis risks for the country.

Before entering public office, Mr. Boc was a practicing lawyer and a lecturer in political science and political philosophy at the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences within Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He is a member of the American Political Science Association since 1994 and a member of the Romanian Society of Political Science since 1999. At present, he is an associate professor at the Faculty of Political, Administration and Communication Science, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca.

Emil Boc has a Ph.D in Political Science and Political Philosophy. He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law by Michigan State University, East Lansing, U.S.A. In 2017 he was awarded by the European Commission and Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group with the prize for ”Creating a Strong Innovation Landscape”, during the Luminary Award. He is currently a member of the Committee of the Regions.

”We need to design social innovation tools to channel citizen's innovative potential and civic imagination for the better Future of cities”.

ENRICO ROSSI

ENRICO ROSSI has been the President of Tuscany since 2010. Born in 1958, he graduated in Philosophy in 1982.

From 1990 to 1999 he has been Mayor of Pontedera and in 2000 was elected as a Member of the Regional Council of Tuscany, being for ten years Regional Minister for Health.

After being one of the founders of the Partito Democratico in 2007, Enrico Rossi was elected as President of Tuscany in 2010 and reelected in 2015.

He is a Socialist Member of the Committee of the Regions and Vice-President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions. Since the beginning of the post-2020 negotiations, he has actively contributed to the discussion on the future of Cohesion policy

In 2018, he promoted the Manifesto "Left: Labour, Europe, Fairness, Tolerance" aiming at reforming the

European governance. In 2019, he published a book “It is not enough to say Europe” with an introduction of Frans Timmermans and Sting.

VITTORIA ALLIATA DI VILLAFRANCA

Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca has a scientific background in Plant Biology and Agricultural sciences acquired during her academic years at the University of Palermo and the University of California at Davis. She has a Laurea in Agricultural Sciences cum laude and a MSc 1st honor in Plant physiology.

She started her career doing scientific research. Having spent 2 years in an academic center of excellence at the University of California Davis, she decided to start an international career in an Institution known as a center of excellence in Government affairs. Mrs Alliata di Villafranca joined the European Commission in 1985 with the mission of funding research for top quality projects in the area of Agriculture to promote clean energy use, energy saving and biomass production in Agriculture. Since then, she has occupied several managerial positions in Directorate-General for Internal

Market, Directorate-General for External Relations and Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. She was also a member of the Cabinet of Prof. Mario Monti, member of the Commission in charge of the Internal Market and Taxation.

At present, she oversees as Director the use of Structural funds in a number of EU countries and deals with ways of improving the capacity of National administrations in weaker member states in order to implement structural reforms and improve the use of development Funds.

LUCA JAHIER

Luca Jahier has been the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since April 2018. He has been a member of the EESC since 2002, where he has worked extensively on the European Union’s social and cohesion policies, as well as on international issues. From 2008 to 2012, he was the President of ACLI's National Council (Associazioni Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani). He served as President of FOCSIV, the Italian Federation of non-Governmental Organization for the International Voluntary Service, from 1994 to 1999. Luca Jahier has previously worked with the CISV (Comunità Impegno Servizio Volontariato) and other Italian and European NGOs that are active in the field of international cooperation. He is a former journalist and an international political analyst, and he has numerous years of experience in social advancement development programmes in developing countries, mainly in Africa.

KARL-HEINZ LAMBERTZ

Karl-Heinz Lambertz was elected President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) in July 2017 after serving a two and a half year term as First Vice-President. He is also President of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

Born on 4 June 1952 in Schoppen, Karl-Heinz's interest in politics came early in his career having served as President of the German-speaking Youth Council (1975-1980). After a number of functions linked to his academic background in law, he became a Member of Parliament of the German-speaking Community in 1981.

Between 1990 and 1999 he held numerous ministerial posts in the German-speaking Community Government before being elected its Minister-President (1999-2014). In 2014 he became President of the Parliament for the first time, a post he held until 2016 before he was appointed to represent the German-speaking Community in the Belgian Senate. In June 2019, he resumed office as President of the Parliament, a position that he holds today.

Karl-Heinz Lambertz has been a CoR member since 2001 and was president of the CoR's PES Group (2011- 2015). Since 2000, he has been a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in which he is currently vice-president.

YOUNOUS OMARJEE

Younous Omarjee, born on the 30th of September 1969 in Saint-Denis of La Reunion, is a French Member of the European Parliament.

After finishing his studies in Law and Political science, Younous Omarjee becomes Project leader at the cabinet of the General Council of La Reunion. Four years later, he becomes the political advisor to Paul Vergès, Senator and President of Reunion Island, first at the French Senate and later in the European Parliament.

Member of the European parliament since January 2012, Younous Omarjee is re-elected in the 2014 and 2019 European elections. In the European Parliament, Younous Omarjee sits within the Group of the European Unitary Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL).

Following the 2019 elections, M. Omarjee has been unanimously elected Chair of the Committee on Regional Development. He is also a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and substitute member of the Budget Committee.

EMILY O’REILLY

Emily O’Reilly was first elected as the European Ombudsman by the European Parliament in 2013 and then re-elected for a five- year mandate in 2014 and again in 2019. She investigates maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union. She was awarded Schwarzkopf Europe Award in 2017 in recognition of her work.

From 2003 until 2013, Ms O’Reilly was Ombudsman and Information Commissioner in Ireland. In 2008 the National University in Ireland conferred her with an Honorary Doctorate in Law and in 2014 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University College Dublin for her commitment as Irish Ombudsman.

As a former journalist Ms O’Reilly’s career attracted significant domestic and international recognition, including a Harvard University Fellowship and multiple national awards. She has written three critically acclaimed books on Irish politics and media and is a current member of the International Advisory Board of Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

Citizens have a right to take part in the democratic life of the EU, and their participation should be an integral and natural part of all policy-making.

ELISA FERREIRA

European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, European Commission. Ms. Ferreira is a University professor in economy, who served as Member of the Board (2016) and later Vice governor of the Central bank of Portugal (Banco de Portugal) (2017-2019), Member of European Parliament (2004-2016), Member of the Portuguese Parliament (2002-2004), Minister for planning (1999-2002) and Minister of environment (1995-1999).