Jelena Zec
Jelena Zec works at the department of Community Affairs for the Administrative Board of Skåne in Sweden. She is a project assistant at the BLING-project.1. How is the County Administrative Board of Skåne involved in blockchain; can you tell us a bit about your (latest) developments?
We want to explore how blockchain can be used as a tool for contributing to citizen participation and democracy development. In our pilots, we have focused on supporting citizen dialogue by conducting referendums in two urban development projects in the Skåne region, where future residents of these areas will have an opportunity to vote on the proposed solutions on how their neighborhood will look like. Our main goals are to explore the safety aspects of the use of blockchain for voting and if it will contribute to higher citizen involvement compared to traditional methods that we already use.
2. Which blockchain topics do you find the most interesting or promising?
Personally, the most interesting for me are the opportunities blockchain gives to democracy development and the higher quality of services the public sector provides. Higher involvement of citizens in governance, building trust in government, data protection, and improving the efficiency of citizens' services are some of the areas where usage of the blockchain can bring a positive change and benefits to citizens and society as a whole.
3. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned so far by working together with international partners in this European project?
Participation in the BLING project gave us a broader view of the possible use cases. The most valuable lesson I have learned is how to determine if the blockchain is the right solution for the specific problem we are trying to solve.