Bucharest’s Open Innovation Laboratory launched
On 6 February, the Bucharest Open Innovation Lab (OIL) was presented at an event organised by the Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency in the framework of the European project AI4Citizens. Urbasofia’s INCA partners Pietro Elisei, Giorgia Romagnoli and Valentina Stan were in charge of launching the OIL in front of 41 local actors relevant to the topic.
On the one hand, our colleagues explained the purpose of Bucharest OIL, focusing on gaining a deeper understanding of the role Facebook plays in public discourse and the democratic process. They also presented the activities planned for this year to begin to reach the final goal, which consists of creating guidelines for developing an inclusive and ethical alternative to Facebook, to ensure better communication and transparency between public administration, citizens and specialists. Additionally, the occasion was used to formally invite these urban stakeholders to participate in the future project.
On the other hand, the presentation included an interactive part where attendees participated in a survey using the Mentimeter application. Through this quiz, INCA partners announced the launch of the questionnaire as the first activity of OIL Bucharest. The questionnaire titled “Rethinking Social Platforms: Co-creating an Ethical Alternative to Facebook in Bucharest” is aimed at citizens and open to anyone who wishes to share their perspective.
The event provided a valuable opportunity for INCA, allowing us to present our project to urban stakeholders who had not previously engaged with our initiatives. Colleagues from Urbasofia devoted part of their presentation to highlighting the activities we have developed and the results our team has achieved thus far.
Moreover, the event was enriching because it featured several presentations by members of the European project AI4Citizens, which aims to support ethical and effective AI governance in European cities and regions. For example, one of the talks discussed how the city of Tampere has developed its own digital system, which centers on community engagement and digital safety. The other presentation focused on using artificial intelligence to enhance traffic safety by analyzing road conditions.
