SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
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.
Expected Impact
- 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.
ELIGIBILITY & ADMISSIBILITY CRITERIA
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
- non-EU countries: countries associated to Horizon Europe
Financial capacity
Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources to successfully implement the projects and contribute their share. Organisations participating in several projects must have sufficient capacity to implement all these projects.
The financial capacity check will be done on the basis of the documents uploaded in the Participant Register during the grant preparation stage (e.g. profit and loss account and balance sheet, business plan, audit report produced by an approved external auditor, certifying the accounts for the last closed financial year, etc.). The analysis will be based on neutral financial indicators, but will also take into account other aspects, such as dependency on EU funding and deficit and revenue in previous years.
Language Criteria:
Applicants can submit their application in any official EU language. However, for reasons of efficiency, it is strongly advised to use English. If applicants need the call documentation in another official EU language, they must submit a request within 10 days after publication of the call (for the contact information, see topic page).
FUNDING & RESOURCE ALLOCATION
Total funding available is EUR 9.000.000.
TIMETABLE
The deadline for this call is 7th of February 2024.
PARTNER SEARCH
If you are looking for collaborating partners you can check Partner Search tab on Funding & Tenders Portal
Consortium
Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information please click here.
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 – 13. General Annexes
COUNTRY COORDINATOR
Country Coordinator for this call is: TÜBİTAK
For your questions and inquiries please contact: ufukavrupa@tubitak.gov.tr