Open Gov > Events > TICTeC Local 2019

TICTeC Local 2019

A mySociety event.

Register here

Exploring the Civic Tech that transforms local communities

TICTeC Local is the annual conference from mySociety that focuses directly on the use of Civic Tech in local communities.

What are the digital innovations that are helping local communities and local government to foster citizen engagement, drive efficiency, and combat social and environmental problems?

Join us at City Hall this November to find out. TICTeC Local will bring together attendees from across the public and private sector, academia and civil society for a day of inspiring presentations and knowledge-sharing that will help you forge connections, take home new ideas, and bring increased energy to the challenges ahead.

TICTeC Local is part of mySociety’s global The Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC) series, which has been examining civic tech at the local, national and global levels since 2015. TICTeC Local narrows the lens, focusing on where and how civic tech connects with and impacts local communities and local government.

The TICTeC Local schedule can be viewed here.

See resources from last year’s event to get a taste of TICTeC Local.

Registration

Attendance for public sector staff is free, but registration is still obligatory so please select the ‘Public Sector’ ticket when registering. Free public sector tickets are limited to two tickets per public body.

Early Bird registration is open until 13th September 2019 and provides a 25% discount on ticket prices. Early Bird registration for civil society and academic organisations costs £75 and £150 for private sector organisations.

Regular registration is £100 for civil society and academic organisations and £200 for private sector organisations, and is open between 13th September and 31st October 2019.

Fee includes conference pass, lunch and refreshments during the day.

Please note that registration for the conference is essential in order to attend.

Accessibility information

The conference venue is fully accessible for wheelchair users. If you plan to attend TICTeC Local with a personal care attendant/assistant, their conference fee will be waived. Please contact Gemma Moulder on +44 (0)20 3239 0725 or via email to arrange the fee waiver/registration.

If you need special requirements such as hearing loops, sign language interpreters, handouts in advance and/or in alternative formats such as Braille or large print etc, please contact Gemma Moulder on +44 (0)20 3239 0725 or via email with your request by close of business on 1st October 2019 so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. We will do our best to fulfil your requirements to allow you to fully participate in this event.

Sponsorship opportunities

mySociety is a charity and relies on sponsorship and ticket sales to make events like TICTeC and TICTeC Local happen. If you’re interested in hearing about sponsorship opportunities at TICTeC Local or TICTeC events then please get in touch with Gemma Moulder to discuss further.

What is Civic Tech?

The field of Civic Tech is growing across the globe, often at a grassroots level — and yet, to those outside its network, the term can be unfamiliar. You will often see ‘Civic Tech’ mentioned along with sister buzzwords like ‘smart cities’, ‘e-gov’, ‘govtech’, ‘ICT4D’ and ‘Tech For Good’, to name but a few.

Civic Tech embraces all digital tools that enable citizens to easily and effectively engage with civic life, whether that is reporting an issue to a local authority, engaging with elected representatives or monitoring the use of community assets.

At its most effective, Civic Tech can save lives, protect environments, and mobilise citizen task forces in times of crisis. At a useful if less dramatic level, it can save time and money for governments, improve neighbourhoods and keep residents informed.

Civic Tech is often — but not exclusively — built by non-profit organisations working for a better, more representative, democratic or functional society. The result is often open source ‘tech for good’ software that is free or cheap to implement.

Is TICTeC Local for me?

If you’re interested in or work with digital technologies to improve local communities and their public authorities, then yes.

TICTeC Local will have a range of speakers covering a wide range of topics relevant to participation, efficiency, customer service, digital, information services and general governance.

What happens at TICTeC Local?

  • Practitioners, researchers and representatives showcase inspiring Civic Tech tools and projects that service local communities in the UK and beyond, with discussions on what makes them work and how
  • A chance to take stock of the Civic Tech landscape in the UK and what barriers there are to its progress
  • Panels and discussions around Civic Technology projects: the ethics, finances, and other practicalities of their implementation
  • Practical takeaways that you can take back and implement in your own strategies

Here is the TICTeC Local schedule.

What will I get from TICTeC Local?

You will not get sales pitches, technical talk that only experts could understand, or high-concept presentations with no relevance to your own daily work.

TICTeC Local aims to build a bridge between the people that make digital tools for the public good, the people that use them and the people that examine their impact.

We believe that too often digital tools are built in isolation from the organisations that buy them, and the citizens that use them, and because of this everyone’s experience is the poorer.

At TICTeC Local, we’ll change that and bring down some of those barriers to discuss what really works. You will leave inspired by some of our showcased projects, you’ll have a better understanding of the most effective digital tools, and you’ll have met interesting people who are on a similar journey, or who might be able to help you in developing your digital capacity in the future.