On July 20th, a new Heart of Europe Organising Committee had been appointed by the Executive Board of the Czech Debate Society to oversee the preparations of the tournament for 2017. We will be welcoming several new faces, including the first woman in the position of the Head of the Chief Adjudicator Panel. This had been decided at the first meeting of the new ORGCOM, with the goal of supporting the equality of genders.

On the basis of the post-tournament feedback that we have received from our participants, we have also decided to commission a custom Heart of Europe DT mobile app. It will be designed to show schedule, offline venue maps (including transportation, restaurants, museums, and more), timer, basic information, and results, all in our signature colors. The app will be created by Marius Petcu from Romania, who made similar app from the World Schools Debating Championships 2016.