Charles Armstrong, founder of CIRCUS foundation, hosted a lunchtime seminar discussing emergent democracy. For two millennia democratic systems have been designed to accommodate a set of limiting factors which the internet has rendered obsolete. This opens the door to substantially new models of democracy which are more fluid, more responsive to changing circumstances and more efficient at harnessing a society's collective intelligence. The seminar draws on ideas explored by Charles in his chapter on emergent democracy which forms part of O'Reilly's forthcoming book "Open Government".

Charles is CEO of the social analytic software business Trampoline Systems, recently recognised by Red Herring as one of the world's top 100 technology firms. He is founder of think tank CIRCUS foundation and Director of the One Click Orgs project, providing automating legal structures and governance tools for non-profits. Charles is a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, a board member of Fondacja Techsoup and was the final person to be mentored by Michael Young.