ECePS conference 2025

"Promises and Paradoxes of Open Data"

ECePS Final Conference

Date: Thursday, February 13th 2025

Venue: UT Delta Centre, Narva mnt 184, Room: 1005 in Tartu, Estonia

 

As electronic public services become more widespread, there is a growing awareness that new generations of electronic services need to be more accessible, intelligent, secure, trustworthy and cross-border. At the same time, we see that the increased availability of data offers fascinating opportunities for even more advanced public services, new business developments and academic research. As with many other promises, we see that high expectations are at least occasionally dashed in complex trialogues between government, business and academia. The conference will look at the findings of the ECePS ERA Chair researchers on e-governance over the last few years. In addition, a series of panels will bring together academics, government officials and industry representatives to discuss their experiences in accessing and sharing data for impact.

Conference is free of charge, however pre-registration is required. Please preregister here by February 1st

The conference is organised by the ECePS ERA Chair, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857622. 

Agenda

9.30 Welcome coffee  

10.00 Opening address by Prof. Dr. Vincent Homburg, ERA Chair, full professor of e-Governance and Digital Public Services, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. 

10.05 Session I    Showcasing ECePS research – Navigating Digital Frontiers in Political Science  

Presentations by the junior research fellows in e-Governance of the ECePS research team:

  • Art Alishani
  • Logan Emily Carmichael  
  • Stefan Dedovic
  • Biao He  
  • Bogdan Romanov 

Followed by discussion and Q&A  


12.00 – 13.00 Lunch


13.00 - 14.00 Panel I - Researchers: Dialogue of the Digital Deaf? Why Available Data is not Usable in Research. Moderated by Prof Vincent Homburg

  Evelyn Uuemaa, Department of Geography Head of Chair, Professor of Geoinformatics, UT.  

  Külli Taro, Head of Knowledge Transfer, Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology  

  Ott Velsberg, Government Chief Data Officer, Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs  

  Mihkel Solvak, Deputy Head for Development, Associate Professor of Technology Research, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, UT.   


14.00 - 14.30 Coffee and stretching break


14.30 - 15.30 Panel II - Applications/Private sector: How to Move from “dead” Studies to “live” Services/Products Using the Same Data?    Moderated by Dr Mihkel Solvak 

  Dan Bogdanov, Chief Scientific Officer, Cybernetica AS  

  Kristjan Lemmsalu, Head of Data Unit, Estonian Information System Authority  

  Tiiu Kelviste, Head of Geospatial Solutions, Public Services Development team, City of Tartu

  Andres Raieste, Senior Vice President, Public sector (global) at Nortal AS

  Kaido Paabusk, Deputy Director General for Data Services, Statistics Estonia


15.45 - 16.10 Conclusions and take-aways  from the conference


16.25 Transfer to the Estonian National Museum  

16.40 - 17.40 Visiting Ryoji Ikeda´s exhibition Data Universe, introduction by Timo Toots – a multidisciplinary artist, whose works concentrate on the relations between humans, technology and nature; he is the founder of Maajaam

Ryoji Ikeda is known for his unique style that combines scientific data and technology into contemporary artworks. His solo exhibition is based on the scientific data from the UT´s Institute of Genomics and is one of the highlights of Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture year.

Both Timo Toots and Ryoji Ikeda have won Ars Electronica Golden Nica award for interactive arts. 

17.40 Transfer back to the centre  

19.30 Conference dinner (with pre-registration only)



For participants

Access to Tartu

Tartu is Estonia’s second largest city with a population of 100,000. It is a green compact university town with a calm living and study environment, youthful people and a vibrant cultural life. Tartu City government has gained attention with its interest in implementing innovative technologies and investing in energy efficiency and climate change mitigation measures. The City of Tartu has also been effective in implementing the Smart City concept. It is closely collaborating with e-governance and Govtech entrepreneurs in building local public services.

Tartu can best accessed by air via Tallinn, capital of Estonia. Tallinn airport has good connections to major European cities. From Tallinn, Tartu is easily accessible by public transportation. The express bus to and from Tartu Bus Station stops at the Tallinn airport and departs every hour. The Tallinn train station ‘Ülemiste’ is easily reachable by tram from the airport, and trains to Tartu run every few hours. In addition, an express bus between Riga and Tartu runs several times a day.

Conference venue

University of Tartu Delta Centre, one of the most modern centres of digital technology, analytical and economic thought in the Nordic region. Built in 2020, Delta Centre is a modern academic and research centre of the University of Tartu, focusing on cooperation between the university, society and business. It brings together the fields of computer science, robotics, technology, mathematics, statistics, economics, management and business. 

The Delta Centre is located in the city centre of Tartu, within walking distance from the Old town, city centre hotels and restaurants. More information about the venue can be found here: https://delta.ut.ee/en/.