Context is everything

Lessons from civic tech across Europe

Matt Stokes and Toby Baker, Nesta

matt.stokes@nesta.org.uk
toby.baker@nesta.org.uk

@DSI4EU
digitalsocial.eu
Goals for today’s workshop

• Share our work with you

• Learn more about civic tech in CEE

• Understand how contextual factors affect

success of civic tech projects
Ultimate aims

• Inform our research and policy work

• Facilitate cross-border learning

Digital social
innovation helps us
tackle big social
challenges by
involving and
empowering people
Research Policy
Understanding the DSI Influencing policy to be more
landscape, challenges and supportive of DSI
opportunities

Support Advocacy
Community-building, advisory Raising awareness among a
support, programmes diverse range of stakeholders
digitalsocial.eu
@DSI4EU
Key challenges
• FUNDING: Not enough funding, not reaching the right people, methods
stuck in the past

• NETWORKS: Disconnected actors, leading to duplication and inefficiency

• MAINSTREAM ADOPTION: Public sector and established civil society slow

to embrace technology

• SCALING IMPACT: Practitioners struggle with engagement, growth and

sustainability

• MEASURING IMPACT: Not enough measurement of impact,

including potential negative impacts
Understanding different experiences of civic tech

• What helped you to succeed?

• What made life more difficult?

• What do you want governments and funders

to know?
What next?

• Create a profile on digitalsocial.eu

• Follow us on Twitter @DSI4EU

• Sign up to our newsletter: bit.ly/DSINews

• Speak to us or ePaństwo Foundation

Thank you!
matt.stokes@nesta.org.uk
toby.baker@nesta.org.uk

@DSI4EU
digitalsocial.eu