January 2006–December 2009

#DEMO-net

DEMO-net is a proposal by leading European researchers to organise and develop a network of excellence in the strategic field of eParticipation. The project is designed to help secure the future of democracy and the participation of citizens indecision-making processes within public administrations and public-orientedagencies, and to address the various needs for eParticipation and eGovernance in the different territories.

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Across Europe there is a widespread sense that the public has disengaged from formal political processes, such as voting, joining parties and following politicalnews; and this disengagement reflects a crisis of public trust in governments at all levels in Europe.

DEMO-net is a proposal by leading European researchers to organise and develop a network of excellence in the strategic field of eParticipation. This eParticipationNetwork is designed to help secure the future of democracy and the participation of citizens in decision-making processes in all levels of public administration, and to address the various needs for eParticipation and eGovernance in the different territories.

The overarching objective of DEMO-net is to strengthen scientific, technological and social research excellence in eParticipation by integrating the research capacities of individuals and organisations spread across Europe.The intention is to advance the way research is carried out in Europe with respect to quality, efficiency, innovation and impact to overcome the currently fragmented approach to eParticipation inthis important European research area. The network with this overall objective will provide a major contribution to the strategic goals set by the European Council.

Thereforethe four high level objectives of DEMO-net are:

  1. To achieve a lasting integration ofcurrently fragmented research in eParticipation

  2. To stimulate joint research in DEMO-net’sagreed research areas

  3. To disseminate DEMO-net research amongsteParticipation stakeholders

  4. To provide a barometer of research effectiveness for eParticipation in Europe byestablishing a corpus of lessons-learnt resource to show what kind of projects have delivered what kind of results and thereby considered effective for eParticipation.

In order to reach this objective, DEMO-net will:

1.Co-ordinate and integrate the members’ research activities clustered around theresearch and technological objectives (Joint research activities) as describedbelow.

  1. Achieve close and sustained co-operation between government and academia, in order to improve the quality of research and understanding on both sides.

  2. Assess and compare research already made on eParticipation in cities, regions and countries across Europe and worldwide.

  3. Provide the necessary technological infrastructure to facilitate discussion, co-operation and data exchange.

  4. Ensure growth and sustainability of the network by encouraging and motivating organisations and researchers in areas relevant to eParticipation to join inthe activities of DEMO-net.

  5. Mobilise relationships among the many stakeholders involved with participation research and also those dependant on the results of that research.

  6. Ensure dissemination of research outcomes of DEMO-net to widest possible audience forthe benefit of researchers, government and citizens.

DEMO-net’s specific aim is to promote and develop through a focussed and integrated research programme technological and socio-technical excellence ineParticipation tools and methodologies.

DEMO-net will build on the experience accumulated by leading European research organisations that have studied the underlying principles of eParticipation andactively worked with governments across Europe in applying and evaluating eParticipation. To ensure sustainability of the research and dissemination of the results expert practitioners from government agencies will support DEMO-net across Europe.

The time to launch this research framework is right. Europe needs to improve its democratic legitimacy and to build an inclusive knowledge-based society. The overall challenge is to improve democratic decision-making in such a manner that enables citizens and governments to engage collaboratively with one another to deliver evidence-based policy. Greater interactivity in the democratic process needs to be addressed for more innovative and public administrations at all levels.

DEMO-net recognises the multi-disciplinary skills that are needed to achieve this. It aims to develop overall technological and socio-technical excellence in eParticipation tools and methods to enable Europe to maintain world recognition in this citizen centric domain, enabling better engagement with citizens across Europe. The multi-disciplinary approach is a key aspect of DEMO-net which seeks to integrate research activities which have been until now independent and fragmented.

Project Partners

  • University of Leeds, UK (Coordinator)
  • County of North Jutland, Denmark
  • Örebro University, Sweden
  • University of Koblenz-Landau(IWVI), Germany
  • Fraunhofer AIS, Germany
  • Institut für Informations managment Bremen GmbH, Germany
  • University of Macedonia, Greece
  • Institute of Communication and Computer Systems at theUniversity of Athens, Greece
  • Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
  • Aalborg University,Denmark
  • Fondation National des Sciences Politiques, France
  • Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
  • University of Bergamo, Italy
  • Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, UK
  • Agentura pro Evropske Projekty a Management (EPMA) / Vysocina Region,Czech Republic
  • Napier University, UK
  • University of Iceland, Iceland
  • University of Helsinki, Finland

Visit the DEMO-net Website