In recent months, many organisations in business and administration have noticeably shifted away from a predominantly ‘presence culture’ toward more flexible working hours and working locations. A huge experimental space was created more or less overnight, offering more flexibility in terms of working time and working location thanks to new forms of collaboration and communication. During the coronavirus pandemic, public administration has also shown itself to be more agile and flexible than sometimes assumed.

The EU is about to embark on two processes that seek to boost the Union’s ability to manage and solve some of the biggest challenges it is currently facing. These are the forthcoming Conference on the Future of Europe and the development of the new Strategic Compass. The Conference will tackle major societal challenges such as climate change and the economy and it will also involve civil society actors.

The Martens Centre in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung and the Political Academy of the Austrian People’s Party are proud to organise NET@WORK 2020, and