The FOCUS Conference on Innovation and Communication in Public Administration and Public Companies in two days raised topics related to the development of digital society within public administration and public companies, which must be harmonized by 23 September 2020. in accordance with the new law under the European Web Accessibility Directive.
In addition to a lecture by Secretary of State Bernard Gršić from the Central State Office for Digital Society Development on the topic of Inclusive Digital Society, a panel entitled ‘Are we all equal? – Accessibility of information and communication technologies and services’, was moderated by Amela Odobašić, rapporteur for the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) working group on accessibility of persons with disabilities and head of the public relations sector.
Panel participants were Goran Denis Tomašković, Executive Director of the Association of the Blind in Zagreb, Dušan Caf of the Digitas Institute for the Digital Society of the Republic of Slovenia, Ivo Majerski from HAKOM, Ph.D. Luka Balvan of the Central State Office for the Development of digital society and Nikola Ivančič, Vice-President of the Institute for integrated-inclusive communications of Southeast Europe. Web adaptation recommendations were made, but the future was discussed as well as the challenges not only for government institutions and businesses, but also for the private sector. Emphasis was placed on the opportunities offered by new programs and software solutions to facilitate communication with people with disabilities that we sometimes forget. Tanja Zaninovic, senior expert in legal affairs at the Croatian Regulatory Agency for Network Activities (HAKOM), also spoke on this topic. Transformation and education of public administration and technology was presented by Rudolf Vujević, the director of the state school for public administration. Participants are in the panel What do the media expect from communication with public administration and public companies? moderated by Ana Smrečki, program director of Media Servis, had the opportunity to hear what the media is most bothered about when interacting with representatives of public administration and public companies.
This conference was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and the Mayor of Krapina-Zagorje County, Željko Kolar.
Corporate Communications Director Martina Sokač Saraga of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Iva Saraga of the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development presented their practical examples at the conference
“Unfortunately, as long as politicians and decision-makers are no longer educated on an informative basis about digital society and communications, employees of public administration and public companies in the field of communications will not be as important as the activities they carry outIn these processes, the Croatian Community of Counties takes the lead, and there are good examples within the public administration and public companies whose authorities still understand that the transparency everyone is talking about starts with communications. Let us not forget that the purpose of employees in public administration and public companies is to be closer to the people in the function of serving the citizens. “, said Danijel Koletić, President of the Organizing Committee.
