The 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference took place on 19-20th of November in Malmo, Sweden. During the preconference on 18th of November “e-Government Research and Innovation: Empowering Citizens through Government Services across Sectors and Borders” the first Plenum Session conducted by Witold Staniszkis – President & CEO of Rodan Systems SA. The subjects of this session was: “A mature society: Citizens as networkers with governments on the WEB”.

The social Internet enabled by Web 2.0 tools and techniques has transformed the post-industrial societies opening up powerful communication channels and facilitating human interactions. The big question is whether these techniques are sufficiently powerful to crush the invisible walls separating citizens from local and government administrations. eParticipation is more about the political and social transformation than information technology – are we able to pass this test?

The answer for these questions was the main subjects of the discussion that opens the three-day, international debate in Sweden.