The session was focused on content, creation, communication and copyrights implications, and it started with the following question: «What is content?» It is about data, information and knowledge. The focal point is promotion of democracy, better innovation processes, business insight, and content. The session was moderated by Mr. Hugo Kerschot, the founder and managing director of Is-practice in Belgium, a Program Management Office that delivers project management and high-level advice for major projects within the international and national public sector in the broader field of the information society. Mr. Kerschot started the session with an «appetizer» talking about different insights of a few European projects about smart cities, smart citizens and open data. Four European cities have developed a “citadel”, an on-the-move smart application that allows data to be visualized throughout a mobile application. “Easy molino”, is another smart city. These smart applications offer services that allow finding playgrounds, metro access, pharmacies, smoke free restaurant, and coffee.

The first speaker, Mr. Alfredo M. Ronchi, the general secretary of EC Medici framework, a professor from the Polytechnical Engineering Faculty of Milan, asked the question: «Does e-content talk to the heart?» Open data, intellectual property rights management, e-content and services present challenges nowadays. Open data is a new ream that needs to be faced. Topics like citizen’s data, intellectual property and privacy are also part of this debate. What about open data and its challenges? The European Union sets guidelines and regulations. They are easy to find, and provide specific regulations about open data. Some countries adopted those directives, while other countries still focus on their own local regulations. The key problems are ownership, privacy and intellectual property. As the speaker mentions, “My data belongs to me” and this should raise young generation’s awareness about how they have to be particularly careful, and think twice before they post personal information on social media. Internet is a good opportunity to promote knowledge of cultural and language diversity, but it is also a challenge. Citizens and languages: the presence of languages on the internet shows that the majority of the content is still in English, although Chinese is getting more and more popular. What is the picture of the actual situation? Evolution is providing some good news as new languages and new formats are being created.

The second speaker, Mr. Alan Shark, Executive Director of Public Technology Institute (PTI), in Alexandria, USA, highlighted the value of e-content and talked about e-government. According to statistics, 61% of the population does not trust governments. There is a real movement to look at the value of content but there is still a long way to go. But what do citizens really want? Smart citizens? Smart governments? Citizens do want meaningful information, as opposed to just data. They wish to be truly heard on policy issues, have greater trust of government, and that is why e-government is important. Citizens also want to help and they produce different information formats. The role of institutes is to make this content clearer.

Ms. Stephanie Bacquère, founder and co-CEO of NOD-A in France, continued the session talking about how to create value from data. She explains how digital culture is important: there is a need to improve and integrate the digital culture in today’s society. She presents a concept of “Makestorming” which is based on the following principles:

• Organize sprints;

• Gather the key talents;

• Prototype at every stage by gathering people from your organization and other organizations;

• Act collectively, like we are all together.

Her advice is to stop planning for the next 5 years. Instead, focus on a concrete project, something small, and precise so that the project can be effective.

Prof. Patrick Yves Badillo, Director and founder of Media@LAB at the University of Geneva, addressed the topic of innovation and social media in a media-based golden age. According to him, evolution shows that innovation and social media are increasing from a general point of view, and it’s getting really hard to truly grasp the importance of social network. But on the other side, there is a digital paradox – there is very little exchange of ideas between different people, and dissemination is restricted to some areas. Social networks among companies are seen very differently from social networks among citizens. The digital native generation is different based on their point of view about the digital world. Media and social networks will change companies within the next coming years.

Ms. Giovanna Di Marzo Serungendo, professor at the University of Geneva concluded the session by pointing out the importance of participative platforms to promote democracy engagement.