The Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Bozen-Bolzano will be hosting the 2-day conference “The Citizen Lab: Strategies of Social and Institutional Innovation”, a format of interdisciplinary discussion that cuts across the boundaries of academia, industry, local government, private businesses, and NGOs, addressing innovative methods to connect citizens and institutions on issues of social inclusion, democratic creativity, rights, public accountability, corporate social responsibility, and digital democracy. The “Lab” format is instrumental to a dialogue aimed at sharing democratic practices across boundaries. On day 1 (April 15) the conference, in cooperation with the Bolzano Film Festival Bozen (BFFB), will host a panel on “audience strategies and democratic publics”, where representatives of local institutions/associations discuss methods of engaging people in their activities. On day 2 (April 16), in the early afternoon, the conference features a panel discussion on the “Short Films Days” in cooperation with IDM - Film Commision Südtirol and the BFFB.

The Citizen Lab explores the role of culture and creativity in shaping democratic attitudes and routines and uses films and filmmaking as its central case study. The Short Film Days are an opportunity to engage academics and students on creativity and films as tools for democracy.

The Citizen Lab is organized by Dr. Benedetta Carlotti, Assistant Professor of Political Science. This is an event of the research cluster “Law, Economics, and Institutions” of the Faculty of Economics and Management of unibz.