With thanks to financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy, in 2021 TICTeC expanded from an annual conference into a year-round programme of activities and events: TICTeC Labs.
The aim of TICTeC Labs is to discuss and tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the global civic tech/digital democracy sector. We want to grow the civic tech evidence base, address issues, and enhance the effectiveness and potential impact of civic tech projects.
Find out about the activity streams below.
Civic Tech Surgeries
Regular online events bringing together the global civic tech community to discuss challenges facing the sector, share existing research and experience, and identify evidence gaps and other needs. There have been six surgeries across the 18 month TICTeC Labs programme in 2021-22, each focused on a specific theme identified as a key challenge for the global civic tech sector.
Action Labs
A collaborative and action-oriented process to take forward ideas generated in civic tech surgeries and support initiatives that address common challenges. Following each Civic Tech Surgery, an Action Lab (working group) was brought together to discuss the challenges and commission work to address the issues.
Grants and solutions
The Action Lab group members worked together to decide what solutions would be useful to commission in order to tackle the challenges raised at Civic Tech Surgeries, with grants available via open Calls for Proposals.
TICTeC Labs steering group
In order to help guide and promote the TICTeC Labs programme, as well as to make it as relevant and inclusive as possible to local and regional contexts and contributors, we established a global TICTeC Labs Steering Group. The following exceptional people have served on the TICTeC Labs Steering Group, and we thank them for their contributions:
- Neema Iyer, Founder, Pollicy
- Oscar Montiel, Technology Manager, Ranking Digital Rights
- Matt Stempeck, Technologist in Residence, Cornell University, and founder and director of the Civic Tech Field Guide
- Isabel Hou, Open Culture Foundation and g0v
- Nonso Jideofor, Funding & Partnerships Manager, Code for All
Meeting minutes
Below are minutes from all TICTeC Labs meetings.
- Steering group kick-off meeting, 30 Sep 2021
- Surgery #1, 28 Oct 2021
- Action Lab #1 meeting, 27 January 2022
- Surgery #2, 3 February 2022
- Action Lab #1 meeting, 21 February 2022
- Surgery #3, 24 March 2022
- Action Lab #2 meeting, 4 May 2022
- Steering group meeting, 6 May 2022
- Surgery #4, 12 May 2022
- Action Lab #3 meeting, 1 June 2022
- Surgery #5, 14 July 2022
- Action Lab #4 meeting, 2 August 2022
- Action Lab #5 meeting, 29 September 2022
- Surgery #6, 17 October 2022
- Action Lab #6 meeting, 10 November 2022
- Steering group meeting, 2 December 2022
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