14:30 - Welcome address

  • Krzysztof BALON (PL-III), President of the EESC Thematic Study Group Services of General Interest
  • Baiba MILTOVIČA (LV-III), President of the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN)

          Panel discussion on Co-creation of the Services of General Interest:
                         The Role of Citizens and their Organization


                               Moderator: Eva HIJMANS, Researcher Social Innovation,
                           Lecturer Human Resource Management, Hogeschool Utrecht

14:40 -  Opening remarks 

  • Professor Chris FOX, Director of the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit Manchester Metropolitan University, on behalf of the Project Consortium Co-creation of service Innovation in Europe (CoSIE)

15:00 - Co-creation of the Services of General Interest – towards more participative digital services in the EU

  • by Alma Joy RIDDERHOF, Programme Manager, - eGovernment and Trust, DG CNECT,  European Commission

15:15 - Participative Democracy and providing SGIs by civil society organizations in the EU

  • by  Henna VIRKKUNEN, Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats), MEP for Finland

15:30 -  Presentations of the selected examples from the CoSIE project (connected to selected points of the European Pillar of Social rights)

  • Italy: Reducing Childhood Obesity, Laura  BONVICINI, Epidemiology Department, Local Health Unit Reggio Emilia
  • Hungary: Household Economy in Rural Areas, Florian  SIPOS, University of Debrecen
  • Spain: Entrepreneurial Skills for Long-term Unemployed, Michael WILLOUGHBY, Universitat Poiltècnica de València

16 h 15 Q&A session

16:30 - Break

16:45 - Participation of employers, trade unions and other civil society organizations in co-creating and providing SGIs in the EU member states

     Presentations by the members of the TSG-SGI:

  • Austria: Mr Thomas KATTNIG 
  • Czech Republic: Ms Dana SAKAŘOVÁ
  • Poland: Mr Mateusz SZYMAŃSKI

17:00 - Discussion on an EESC contribution to the further development of the European policy towards co-creation of SGIs which works for the people

17:30 - Conclusions

  • by Krzysztof BALON