Czech Kick-off Meeting

"Building capacity for evidence-informed policymaking in governance and public administration in a post-pandemic Europe"

Venue: Lichtenštejnský Palace, Prague.

Date/Time: 10^th March 2023, 09:00-14:45 CET.

Format: hybrid (both in-person and online).

Context

European societies face complex problems such as Covid-19, addressing the policy challenges of climate change and of achieving climate neutrality of EU economies, information systems vulnerable to mis- and disinformation, among others. Governments, public administrations and experts in the scientific community must join forces to address these wicked problems and help public administrations to be better equipped to design better, evidence-informed policies that will deliver public value and sustainable results for their citizens.

This project, supported by the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) by DG REFORM, aims to overcome challenges in connecting supply and demand of evidence and scientific knowledge for effective policymaking. It will help public administrations through building greater capacity for effective engagement between scientists, evaluators and policymakers. Particularly, the country component of the project involves preparing a diagnostic report, a needs assessment and roadmaps for policy implementation at the national level. These should offer pathways for promoting new and innovative approaches for sharing knowledge and improving the management and coordination of governance processes for decision-making, policymaking, rule making and budgeting to achieve greater effectiveness. 

For Czechia, this project is timely. First, the country is strengthening the application of an evidence-informed approach in public administration into its National Reform Programme submitted to the Recovery and Resilience Fund. Second, an OECD Public Governance Review is working in Czechia on improving capacities for evidence-informed policymaking. Third, the government has recently developed the BETA2 programme of public procurement in research for public bodies to contract universities and companies to conduct research for them. Lastly, there are efforts to provide regulatory impact assessment and foresight exercises that are strengthening the communication between public administrations, think tanks, NGOs, and academic institutions.

The project is implemented by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the OECD.

Goals

1. Formal launch of the analysis to strengthen capacity for evidence-informed policymaking in the Czech Republic in the post-pandemic Europe, as part of the multi-country project 22EL07.
2. Present the scope of the project and its implications at the national level.

Registration

• The format of the event will be hybrid.
• Please, register below by 28th February 2023.
• In-person participation is limited to 100 people. Your registration will be confirmed by 3rd March 2023.
• Online participation is not limited. You will also receive the connection details days before the event.

Registration form

Programme

Prague, 10 March 2023, 09:00-13:30 CET

08:30 Arrival – Registration desk.  

09:00 Opening remarks.  

• Michal Šalomoun, Minister for Legislation and Chairman of the Government Legislative Council, Government of the Czech Republic.  

• Nathalie Berger, Director for Support to Member States Reform, Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), European Commission (remote participation).

09:15 Opening keynote 

Sir Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council (ISC) (remote participation). 

09:45 Views about evidence-informed policymaking from the European Commission  

David Mair (HoU JRC), Head of Unit “Science for democracy and evidence-informed policymaking”, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission. 

10:00 Panel roundtable 1: The importance of data in evidence-informed policymaking  

Chair: Stepan Jurajda, Deputy Minister of Science, Research and Innovation, Government of the Czech Republic. 

• Martin Tax, Consultant. 

• Petra Guasti, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences. 

• Petr Mikeš, Judge of Supreme Administrative Court, Czech Republic (remote participation). 

• Tom de Groeve, Acting Head of Unit “Disaster Risk Management”, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission (remote participation). 

11:00 Coffee break  

11:30 Views about evidence-informed policymaking from the OECD 

Stephane Jacobzone, Senior Adviser, Public Management and Budgeting Division, OECD. 

11:45 Panel roundtable 2: Good international practices in evidence-informed policymaking 

Chair: Marek Havrda, Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Government of the Czech Republic. 

• Liina Eek, Programme Manager, Estonian Research Council (ETAG). 

• Jaakko Kuosmanen, Academy Secretary, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. 

• Trudy Duffy, Principal Officer, Evidence for Policy unit, Department of Further and Higher Education, Government of Ireland. 

• Anne-Greet Keizer, Research Fellow and International Liaison, Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) (remote participation). 

12:45 Closing keynote 

Geoff Mulgan, Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation, University College London (remote participation). 

13:15 Closing remarks  

• Stephane Jacobzone, Senior Adviser, Public Management and Budgeting Division, OECD. 

• David Mair (HoU JRC), Head of Unit “Science for democracy and evidence-informed policymaking”, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission. 

• Marek Havrda, Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Government of the Czech Republic. 

13:30 Lunch 

14:45  END