Central European Summer Time (CEST), UTC +2 – local Serbian Time

	Program Overview
Friday, May 26, 2023            14:00 - 15:30
ReSPA – NAPA workshop
Digital transformation and artificial intelligence in Public Administration
Room	1.8 (1st Floor )
Related to	ReSPA – NAPA workshop Digital transformation and artificial
Chair:	Olivera Damjanovic, ReSPA (Regional School of Public Administration), Danilovgrad, Montenegro
Chair:	Kristina Pekec, National Academy for Public Administration, Belgrade, Serbia
Introduction The Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA) and the National Academy for Public Administration of Serbia (NAPA) will co-organize a workshop Digital transformation and artificial intelligence in Public Administration, within the frame of the 31st Annual Conference of the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration of Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee). The Workshop will tackle the issues of using AI in public administration combining the presentations of the experiences from EU and developments in WB. Regarding EU angle,  examples will be shared of the selected relevant practices from EU focusing on benefits, challenges and lessons learned to date. In the following session, after two presented cases from Serbia and North Macedonia, the moderated dialogue with participants will shed the light on the prospects of deploying AI in public administrations in the Western Balkans looking more closely to the issues of: current situation, needed preconditions, envisaged challenges, key opportunities and threats for future application of AI in public administrations in WB. A bit of context AI can play a significant role in the modernisation and overall improvement of the functioning of public administration. At the same time, however, a guarantee of the transparency, correctness and security of the processed data is also fundamental. Therefore, the possibility of implementing AI in the operation of public administration is limited by the principle of legality and the need to ensure a high degree of reliability of technologies used, as well as the need to ensure respect for citizens’ rights. Public administration is, as a result, confronted with specific challenges in the deployment of AI as the use of these techniques poses specific problems relating to the principles of good governance. According to the early draft of the ReSPA Regional Study on Digitalisation and selected available  sources of information, the situation of using the AI in public administrations of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia differs at the end of 2022. While in Albania, the Digital Agenda 2022-26 intends to integrate modern technologies, such as block chain and AI, in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is no strategic approach while few services have been developed at the local level. Regarding Montenegro no commitment has been identified regarding the deployment of AI in public administration by the end of 2022. In North Macedonia AI is part of the National ICT Strategy that was publically presented at the end of 2022.,while National Population Register works without human interaction and first AI service is developed by Ministry of Information and Public Administration. Serbia is far more advanced in the region of Western Balkans, by having the National AI Development Strategy 2020-2025 and several services developed and functioning. The Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia works as centre of excellence in scientific research and technology transfer related to machine learning and artificial intelligence while collaborating with several public administration organisations. Given this condensed status on the level of using AI in public administrations in the WB on one side and growing interest of the governments but also users for the services enabled by AI, on the other side, the  Workshop will focus on main, most important elements of deploying AI in public administration based on accumulated experiences in EU as well as on developments and issues envisaged as relevant for WB public administrations. Format of the Workshop Format: Introductory and two sessions, including the introductory presentation to the second session. Introductory: Designated representatives from ReSPA (Olivera Damjanovic) and NAPA (Kristina Pekec) to kick off the workshop and set the scene (context) and to pass the floor to Collin Van Noordt, 5 minutes Session 1, 37 minutes EU practices on deploying AI in public administrations – different approaches and lessons learned. This session will be moderated by the expert Collin Van Noordt, Programme Director for AI, Digital Nation, Estonia This session will tackle different approaches in deploying AI in EU public administrations and main lessons learned to date derived from selected EU practices. This the non-exhaustive list of the questions that will be captured in the session: Different approaches and what worked well, the importance of strategic development? What are main issues that can be identified as "common issues”, risks involving security and ethical concerns? Piloting- "pros” and "cons”, using private sector know-how, viability and challenges? Ensuring participation of users in developing AI services? Recent debates on safe use of AI in EU? Questions and answers – to be enhanced using free online tools for interaction (Mentimeter, Slido, etc.), by moderators Closing remarks – by moderators from ReSPA and NAPA - 3 minutes. Session 2 (45 minutes) Introductory presentations of the selected services of using AI in public administrations in WB (10 minutes in total for both presentations) 1.    The Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia, Serbia (5 min) 2.    Ministry of Information and Public Administration, North Macedonia (5 min) Moderated dialogue (27 minutes) What can WB learn from EU experiences and is the WB ready to start with using AI in public administrations to bigger extent? - moderated by Collin Van Noordt, Programme Director for AI, Digital Nation The session will start with the showcase of two practices from Serbia and North Macedonia with comments provided by expert. The expert will initiate the dialogue by providing brief information/hints on the situation in each public administration in WB while the selected participants (public officials dealing with digital transformation/AI) will be asked to reflect on it, provide new/recent information (if any) and share opinions on needed preconditions for intensifying use of AI in their public administrations. The expert would lead the dialogue and highlight the arguments of needed preconditions, envisaged challenges, avoiding the "errors” from EU practices, possibility for WB public administrations to learn from each other at this stage etc. Possible ways forward would be discussed at the end of the moderated dialogue. Questions and answers – to be enhanced using free online tools for interaction (Mentimeter, Slido, etc.). Closing remarks – by moderators from ReSPA and NAPA - 3 minutes.