On the 28^th of March AIIA was delighted to be involved in the first Policy Workshop of the EU-Australia Leadership Forum, a 3-year project funded by the European Commission. The Forum aims at broadening and deepening the existing ties and assists in shaping the vision for the future bilateral relationship.

The Policy Workshop led to a successful discussion on ‘Digital Development’ among EU and Australian experts from a variety of sectors including business, NGOs and government representatives. The two co-chairs, Chris Locke, the Founder of Caribou Digital and Claire Rogers, the Chief Executive of World Vision Australia, played a pivotal part in guiding the discussion.

The workshop was divided into two sessions with the first session discussing ‘Lessons from ICT for Development’ on how governments should take more investment risks in infrastructure and create digital identity in developing countries. The second session analysed the role of ‘Development in the Digital Age’ resulting in the necessity of supporting innovators locally through training and coaching, as well as offer opportunities for co-founding.

After the workshop six recommendations were presented to Director-General of the European Commission’s DEVCO, Stefano Manservisi.

Please find program and participants here.