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Digital democracy

European Comission

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Summary
04 October 2023
07 February 2024
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For profit
Individuals
Not for profit (incl. NGOs)
Public sector
R&D and Higher Education
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bonaire
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Colombia
Comoros
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czechia
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
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East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Faroe Islands
Fiji
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France
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Gabon
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Georgia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Greenland
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Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Iran
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Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
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Lebanon
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Madagascar
Malawi
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Maldives
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New Caledonia
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North Korea
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Norway
Pakistan
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Peru
Philippines
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Portugal
Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Republic of the Congo
Romania
Rwanda
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Slovakia
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Solomon Islands
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Spain
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Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Syria
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Thailand
Togo
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Turkey
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UK
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
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Vietnam
Wallis and Futuna
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Arts, Culture and Heritage
Research, Development and Innovation Natural Sciences
Research, Development and Innovation Social Sciences
Overview

ExpectedOutcome :

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

  • Policymakers, practitioners and researchers gain increased understanding of digital democracy, the challenges and opportunities involved in digital democratic deliberations, the current state of the art and the framework conditions supporting its successful implementation.
  • Informed investment decisions of (any level) government based on mapping future trends, emerging next practices, related participation culture and engagement strategies for building a thriving digitally enhanced public sphere in Europe. Scope :

The COVID-19 pandemic made e-democracy more relevant and influential than ever before since access to the physical public sphere was limited. Through digital platforms and social media, individuals continue to voice their opinions, expose and mobilise for social movements, fostering change and raising awareness of democracy and fundamental rights. Citizens turned to digital media and collaborative platforms to deal with public affairs, exercising active citizenship virtually. Digital democracy platforms expand the opportunities for democratic deliberations through better and faster political information exchange, public dialogue, engagement in public decision-making and exercising voting rights in political elections. Digital democracy can also play an active role in creating and deepening societal change. However, digital solutions are also more vulnerable to disruption e.g. cybersecurity and privacy threats, misinformation campaigns or digital lobbying, attempting to impact public decision-making, including political election outcomes, and is likely to bring important ethical challenges concerning digital education and digital literacy, access to information, built-in bias, etc.

Increased level of participation between government and citizens requires radical changes and major investment making public administrations more relevant to the social, economic, political and technological environment. To prepare public administrations for increased engagement with the broader public, structures and processes need to be put in place, human and financial resources allocated, an ecosystem of intermediaries and representative organisations defined, most suited technological solutions identified, making public deliberation and moderation in the digital age an integral part of a governmental and also societal ‘culture of participation’.

For this aim, proposals should investigate - building on existing literature and data - the most recent developments, especially as regards the pandemic-induced innovative e-democracy and e-participation solutions at all levels of governance (international, EU, national, regional, local). Historical analysis will allow the consideration of the wider and long-term impacts of e-participation on democracy, political and civic culture, and international cooperation will facilitate the exchange of good practice and success stories. The framework conditions i.e. rules, policies and processes; ways of working (partnerships, structures, collaboration); people (skills, culture and values, leadership); knowledge (data, learning) that support next level democratic participation (emerging and next practices) should be investigated. Research should pay particular attention to digital inclusion as a key challenge and essential element of inclusive citizen participation in public deliberations for a healthy digitally enabled democracy through equal participation irrespective of citizen's income level, education, ethnicity, gender, religion, language used, ability, geographical location, etc., and to the digital divide between generations.

Based on lessons learnt from existing good practice cases and experiences, proposals should consider the citizens’ perspectives in building digital democracy tools and processes, including related technical aspects (e.g. gamification, artificial intelligence). The involvement of different stakeholders, including public administrations, end-users, political actors and the private sector is strongly encouraged to foster dialogue and understanding between diverse interest groups in democratic deliberations, enhance the legal frameworks and safeguards against threats and challenges (e.g. fraud prevention in e-voting), overcoming polarisation and reaching better public policy outcomes.

Proposals are encouraged to collaborate with the JRC Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy,[1] particularly with respect to new emerging forms of democratic participation – through or assisted by – digital means, as well as to the innovative application of frameworks and methods for citizen engagement in building and experiencing digital democracy tools and processes.

[1]https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/participatory-democracy_en

Eligibility

General conditions

  1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

  1. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

  1. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding.

  1. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

  2. Evaluation and award:

  • Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes

  • Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

  • Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

  1. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Specific conditions

  1. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

MGA

HE General MGA v1.0

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 5. Culture, creativity and inclusive society

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 11. Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 12. Missions

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Learn more or apply
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07 February 2024