The Lisbon Council

The Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal is a Brussels-based think tank and policy network. Established in 2003 in Belgium as a nonprofit, nonpartisan association, the group is dedicated to making a positive contribution through cutting-edge research and by engaging political leaders and the public at large in a constructive exchange about the economic and social challenges of the 21st century.

July 1, 2020

High-Level Roundtable: Data Analytics for European Union Governments and Citizens

As the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen pushes deeper into its five-year work programme, the Lisbon Council convened the High-Level Roundtable on Public Data-Analytics: Delivering Essential Services in Troubling Times. The reports form part of the Data Analytics for Member States and Citizens, a forthcoming study that analyses cutting-edge applications of public data-analytics in Europe and beyond and looks into how to scale up data driven public services across Europe. The studies presented at the roundtable are available on the European Commission’s Join Up platform, where leading thinkers, stakeholders and informed citizens can read the latest research and contribute new ideas to the European data strategy and the emerging Data Analytics for Member States and Citizens study. Visit the new site at https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/study-data-analytics-member-state....

May 27, 2020

How Digital Government Has Become an Essential Service

In the days of COVID-19 crisis and lockdown, digital government has suddenly become an essential service. But the rush couldn’t hide the fundamental weaknesses of “normal” digital government services. Far from making things better, the surge in use has revealed a host of underlying problems which policymakers must move decisively now to address.

March 11, 2020

The State of "Co-Creation:" How Countries, Cities, and Regions are Using New Thinking to Deliver Better Services

This policy brief tracks innovative public administration in 27 European Union States and five municipalities, and proposes an eight-point program for delivering co-creation at scale.

October 18, 2019

The Public-Data Opportunity - Why Governments Should Share More

Today, data is produced at an unprecedented scale and speed. It is copied and transferred at zero cost in real time and has become a basic tool used in every government department. Yet government agencies remain reluctant to share the data they hold with other agencies. This paper looks at why data sharing is important, how it can be achieved, the opportunities of big data for the public sector, the main barriers to adoption, and policy conclusions for further work.

April 10, 2019

A Roadmap for a Fair Data Economy

The digital revolution is only getting started. Digital disruption, which thus far has transformed a few sectors, is working its way into every sector of the economy. New technologies and exponential growth in the volume of data being produced by people and machines lend themselves to new business models and new kinds of products, while making everything from schools to hospitals more effective. Used correctly, this data explosion promises to make us healthier, richer, sometimes even more compassionate, and to solve intractable societal challenges like climate change.

January 20, 2019

Why Quality of Public Finance Matters for Europe

In a new policy brief released as finance ministers gather in Brussels for the 21-22 January eurogroup/ecfin meetings, Chief Economist Alessandro Leipold calls for a dramatic increase in the role and political attention awarded to a vital but crucial policy lever: the quality of public finance.

November 9, 2018

Digital Europe: Next Steps

In a new discussion paper, President and Co-founder Paul Hofheinz and Deputy Director and Senior Fellow Luukas K. Ilves take a look at the coming challenge – and strategic advantage – for a renewed European digital agenda under the incoming European Commission. The discussion paper looks at three key tests Europe faces: 1) An incomplete single market; 2) an incomplete digital society, and 3) the absence of global digital champions coming from within Europe and proposes an Eight-Point Action Plan for the European institutions and the incoming European Commission. Among the key recommendations are “complete the single market,” upgrade the digital AND the single-market dossiers in a commission restructuring, use co-creation and “design thinking” in policymaking and commit to an “Every European Digital” programme to end Europe’s digital divide.

October 15, 2018

Responsible, Safe and Secure Artificial Intelligence

The Lisbon Council launches Responsible, Safe and Secure Artificial Intelligence, a new policy brief, in the margins of the Tallinn Digital Summit which convenes in the Estonian capital today in the presence of Jüri Ratas, prime minister of Estonia. Deputy Director and Senior Fellow Luukas K. Ilves presented the five-point framework to an afternoon plenary made up of state-level delegations from 15 countries, including Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

September 21, 2018

UN Broadband Commission Working Group report: Digital Entrepreneurship

In 2015, 193 United Nations members agreed 17 global goals for “transforming the world” by 2030. But how do we get there? And what are the first steps? Part of the answer is digital entrepreneurship, an area where the developing world faces both an unprecedented challenge and a unique opportunity. Those are the key themes of Working Group Report: Digital Entrepreneurship, a new study produced for the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

June 18, 2018

Women, Technology and Entrepreneurship: How Women Use Technology to Get Ahead and Why It Matters for Europe as a Whole

At a time when Europe and much of the world push to secure an equal role for women in the workforce, the Lisbon Council teams up with Facebook to launch Women, Technology and Entrepreneurship: How European Women Use Technology to Get Ahead and Why It Matters for Europe as a Whole, a new policy brief.

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