Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal asbl

The Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal was founded on 06 October 2003 as
a non-profit association, constituted under Belgian law (asbl/vzw).
It was set up to intellectually accompany the Lisbon Agenda, Europe’s original growth and jobs programme.
The organisation quickly positioned itself as a “go-to-place” for unconventional, out-of-the-box thinking and
research, attracting senior leaders from its very early days. Among the speakers at Lisbon Council events
have been the following leaders:
● Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission (as prime minister of Luxembourg);
● Carlos Moedas, European commissioner for research, science and innovation;
● Andrus Ansip, European Commission vice-president for the digital single market;

● Günther Oettinger, (then) European commissioner for the digital economy and society;
● Enda Kenny, Taoiseach of Ireland and head of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union
in 2013;
● Helle Thorning-Schmidt, (then) prime minister of Denmark and head of the Presidency of the
Council of the European Union in 2012;
● Brian Hayes, (then) Irish minister of state for public service reform and the office of public works,
and representative of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013;
● Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council;
● Al Gore, former vice-president of the United States;
● Pierre Nanterme, CEO of Accenture.
Over time, a pronounced focus on innovation, innovation in the public sector, digital technologies, human
capital and skills developed, all couched in the broader context of “growth and jobs”. In particular, back in
2008, when most of the policymaking debate was focusing on innovation in the private sector, the Lisbon
Council was one of the first to focus on innovation in the public sector, which represents in Europe half of
the economy.
The organisation’s main activities are as follows:
● High-Level Events- The Lisbon Council has a long-standing expertise in organising interesting and
engaging events that attract great speakers and participants – and that often place issues squarely on
the policy agenda. Team members can implement stakeholder enquiry, focus groups, and experts’
panel alongside the high-level events;
● World-Class Research – The Lisbon Council has an active and vibrant research programme,
operating at the leading-edge of thought leadership, warmly embraced by many policymakers who
value the evidence provided and also often triggering press coverage in major outlets (Financial
Times, The Economist, as well as the key publications at member state level). More specifically The
Lisbon Council research programme spans from open and e-government to future science, digital
transformations for public administrations, ICT, road-mapping and foresight exercises, innovation
and start-ups, and development of skills and human capital;
● Community-Building and Outreach – The Lisbon Council has a very active and dedicated
“community” of friends and supporters throughout Europe. Numbering in the thousands, the Lisbon
Council employs state-of-the art means to keep connected with this group and inform them about its
activities and programmes. Team members can design, build and manage web-based services for
meaningful online discussions and collaboration;
● Public Speaking and Advisory – The Lisbon Council is in great demand for speaking at third party
events, which gives the organisation very high-powered additional outlets for its work and thought
leadership. Also, Lisbon Council principals often serve as advisers and experts to leading bodies,
such as for rotating presidencies of the Council of the EU.
The Lisbon Council professionals have an extensive experience both in policy analysis related to digital
transformation in public administration led by disruptive technologies and big data, as well as on impact
assessment and evaluation. Concerning digital transformation, Lisbon Council personnel have led or are
currently leading road-mapping exercise in the Horizon 2020 project Big Policy Canvas (Transforming
policy making through Big Data and Open Innovation), as well as in the FP7 projects CROSSROAD and
CROSSOVER (Roadmap for ICT Research in Policy Modelling). Furthermore, the Lisbon Council has set
up in 2009 the European Centre for Government Transformation, which is dedicated to providing pragmatic
and actionable solutions designed to improve public services. Moreover Lisbon Council professionals are
leading the policy impact work packages in the Horizon 2020 project Co-VAL (Understanding value cocreation in public services for transforming European public administrations). Regarding impact assessment
and evaluation, Lisbon Council professionals have took part to the an analysis of the role and impact of
industry and research technology organizations’ participation in FP 6 and 7. Moreover Lisbon Council
professionals have chaired the experts panel that carried out the ex-post impact assessment of the Eurostars
Joint Programme and has collaborated with JRC IPTS in the Development of an electronic toolkit and
elaboration of an handbook for the application of the MIREIA eInclusion Impact Assessment Framework
(MIREIA eI2-IAF). Furthermore, Lisbon Council professionals have carried out the assessment of the socioeconomic impact of the pilots in the Smart Cities Horizon 2020 project Espresso and in the e-health Horizon
2020 project Hearten, is leading the evaluation activities in the projects EU Community and Gov3.0, and has
lead the assessment of the value of open eGovernment services in the study “Analysis of the Value of New Generation of eGovernment Services and How Can the Public Sector Become an Agent of Innovation
through ICT”.
The Lisbon Council has a proven track record to work at the intersection of different disciplines, thereby
creating vast synergies between different stakeholder communities and policy topics. Also, the innovation
policy team brings high-level scientific and technical expertise matched by experience in applied policy
work, which enables the LC to extract policy sensible and feasible recommendations from very sophisticated
scientific work