Wicked Problems & Sticky Solutions: EU AI Policy Hack Launch Event

Europe has produced landmark AI regulation. The harder question is whether European institutions — political, technical, and civic — are actually capable of making it work. On 17 April, the CIVICA EU AI Hackathon opens with a public panel evening at Ojin AixHaus, Berlin. Three practitioners — spanning multilateral diplomacy, frontier AI risk, and large-scale technology policy — will sit down for one candid, unscripted conversation about the state of European AI governance: where it is genuinely failing, why those failures are so structurally resistant to easy fixes, and what solutions have actually stuck. The conversation moves across two fault lines: Wicked Problems: The EU AI Act exists. International governance processes are running. Risk frameworks are being written. So why does the gap between regulatory intent and real-world impact keep widening — and why do the people closest to the problem seem most pessimistic about closing it? Sticky Solutions: Governance frameworks that work on paper routinely fail in practice — not because they are technically wrong, but because they do not survive contact with the institutions they were designed to govern. What does it actually take to design policy that holds? Speakers Nicole Manger is an internationally recognised expert on AI ethics, safety, and global AI governance, whose work spans from designing AI-enabled tools and data architectures to shaping multilateral frameworks including the Global Digital Compact and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI. She serves as a Fellow with the TUM Think Tank and the Global Solutions Initiative, advising G7 and G20 digital policy processes. Her current focus is on building the human and organisational capacity — ethical judgment, systems thinking, strategic foresight — that technology governance actually depends on. Victoria (Tori) Boeck is an expert on open data, data sharing and government data (specifically in Germany). Currently she is a technical consultant at IBM iX working with public sector clients. Previously she was a Transformation Manager at CityLAB Berlin, a public innovation lab funded by the Berlin Senate Chancellery and run by the Technologiestiftung Berlin. There she worked with the Berlin city government on topics including open data, open source, and digital innovation. She holds a Masters of Public Policy from the Hertie School. Puja Raghavan is an Indian-qualified lawyer and public policy professional working with the GovStack initiative at GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), contributing to international efforts to strengthen the design and implementation of digital public infrastructure through interoperable standards, governance guidance, and capacity development. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School in Berlin, where she received the Hertie School President’s Award, and she also leads the Hertie Network on Digitalisation. Before joining GIZ, she worked at a GovTech startup in Berlin and practiced law in New Delhi, specialising in white-collar crime, as well as technology law and public policy.Alexander von Janowski is co-founder and managing director of KvJ Consulting, a company specialised in AI governance and compliance. He holds an M.Sc. in Politics & Technology from the Technical University of Munich and worked as a trustworthy AI researcher at the Volkswagen Machine Learning Lab during his studies. Before founding KvJ, Alexander served as AI Certification Manager at the TÜV AI Lab, where he built deep expertise in AI certification and governance with a particular focus on AI-based medical devices. Within the EU research project TEF-Health, he led an international working group at the intersection of the EU AI Act and the MDR charged with developing an "Agile Certification Process" for dynamic AI systems. As a certified ISO 42001 Lead Implementer, Alexander specialises in building AI management systems that help companies treat regulatory requirements not as a burden, but as a strategic lever for safer products and sustainable growth. No slides. No prepared remarks. Come ready to push back. This evening is the public launch of the CIVICA EU AI Hackathon — a three-day event (17–19 April 2026) in which graduate students from Hertie School, IE Madrid, and SNSPA Bucharest develop AI governance prototypes addressing three challenge areas: public sector infrastructure, automated decision accountability, and democratic integrity. This panel sets the intellectual stage before the teams get to work. Open to all students, researchers, practitioners, and AI governance enthusiasts — not just hackathon participants. Schedule 🚪 18:30 — Doors open. Grab a drink, find your people.🎙️ 19:00 — Welcome & framing💬 19:10–20:00 — Panel: Wicked Problems, Sticky Solutions❓ 20:00–20:25 — Open Q&A from the floor🍽️ 20:25–21:00 — Food & networking Capacity is limited. Come ready to contribute. About Ojin AixHaus Ojin AixHaus is the new AI Playground in Berlin. A collaborative community space where scientists, machine learning engineers, founders, creators, and AI enthusiasts come together to build the future of AI. Ojin AixHaus is free to join, open for startups in residency applications, and currently curating their 2026 events calendar. If you have a burning idea for an event, meetup, or hackathon — bring your fire, they bring the space! Find out more: Ojin AixHaus Community Follow Ojin AixHaus: Instagram · LinkedIn · X