Inclusive Citizenship in a World in Transformation:
Co-Designing for Democracy
A unique contribution to the future of democracy in Europe by harnessing historical and quantitative and qualitative social science research, agent-based modelling, design thinking, and advanced analytical methods.
News & Events
Lively, insightful and critical
The Helsinki Interactive Forum convened at the University of Helsinki on August 13, involving a wide range of representatives from cities, municipalities, national government agencies, and ministries. The Forum participants had extensive experience working with...
Is a polis lifestyle sustainable nowadays?
On 25th of September, the Italian Interactive Forum took place in Bologna, in the Baroque, beautifully renovated Sala del Dentone, within the Bologna municipality headquarters. The event was organized with the official patronage of Bologna municipality, and in...
Exploring Democratic Innovations
On Wednesday, September 17, the Incite-Dem Interactive Forum took place in Ljubljana. Organized by Focus, the event brought together 12 decision-makers, public servants, and experts from various levels, ranging from representatives of the National Assembly and state...
Exploring Innovations
On 11th September 2025, we hosted an Interactive Forum at the House of Connections in Groningen. This event served as a follow-up to the six Democracy Labs held by the INCITE-DEM team across six countries, where 161 participants collaboratively designed 31 democratic...
Ensuring Social Legitimacy: Potsdam Interactive Forum
How do we design more inclusive and effective participation, whilst ensuring social legtimacy? This was one of the core questions discussed during our Interactive Forum held in Potsdam on the 11th of September 2025. In 2024, we developed innovative ideas for...
Local Realities, Shared Visions: Exploring Democracy Models in Tallinn, Estonia
On August 14th, Tallinn University hosted an Interactive Forum that gathered 14 participants from across Estonia’s political and civic landscape. The group included politicians from different local parties, NGO representatives working on citizen engagement, deputy...
Lisbon Interactive Forum: Exploring Democratic Innovations
On June 24th, the Portuguese edition of the INCITE-DEM Interactive Fora took place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, bringing together 16 policymakers, public officials and technical staff from local and national institutions. The aim was to assess the...
INCITE-DEM involves children in co-creating the future
This summer, INCITE-DEM and NTNU collaborated with THE HERDS, Olavsfest, and Trondheim Municipality to run six “vision workshops” with children aged 6–9 at local schools. On the festival’s final day, Norwegian Minister of Children and Families, Lene Vågslid, visited and was impressed by the child-inclusive approach.
![[BLOG] Reflections from the Interactive Forum in Barcelona](https://incite-dem.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ITA13-400x250.png)
[BLOG] Reflections from the Interactive Forum in Barcelona
On July 9th, the Barcelona Interactive Forum brought together 14 policymakers and public administration professionals to evaluate the feasibility and implementation potential of six democratic innovations co-designed by citizens across Europe. The event focused on...
The Third INCITE-DEM Newsletter is here!
As we enter the final year of the INCITE-DEM project, our collective efforts are increasingly focused ontranslating research-driven insights into practical tools and strategies that can inform policy and strengthen democratic practice - at the same time fostering...
Project Goal
Our main goal is to enhance inclusive participation and civic engagement, while expanding democratic innovation
and dynamic feedback mechanisms between citizens and institutional actors in representative democracies. This goal
is driven by the ambition to empower citizens, increasing political trust, satisfaction with democracy and societal
cohesion, thus shaping the future of democracy in a world in transformation. To achieve this goal, INCITE-DEM
will pursue the following seven interrelated activities.
Project Activities
Historical Review
Incite-Dem aims at reviewing historical practices of political participation and civic engagement from the end of the WWII to today. The review will focus on sustainability-oriented participation and engagement.
Dialogue Tool
Incite-Dem will co-design a policy dialogue tool with policymakers, educators, students, and democratic initiatives. The tool will help to study trust building, polarisation, and consensus-seeking processes.
Evaluation of Democratic Innovation
An assessment of the democratic innovations, developed through democracy labs, through advanced analysis, choice experiments and interactive fora to establish how different participation and engagement processes can complement each other.
A Community of Practice
Incite-Dem will build on the wide participation of citizens and diverse stakeholder groups to spread its messages and contribute to a wide uptake of inclusive democratic innovations for socio-ecological transformation and wellbeing in Europe.
Understanding Key Conditions For Participation
An analysis of current societal trends in various aspects of participation and engagement. It will deepen our understanding of participation and engagement needs in pursuit of a sustainable and sociocultural transformation.
Democracy Labs
A series of co-creation events, engaging citizens in proposing democratic innovations and solutions. In this way citizens will take part in proposing new democratic approaches.
Developing Policy Guidance & Roadmap
Incite-Dem will provide guidance on how to strengthen political participation and civic engagement and increase political trust and satisfaction with democracy to address socio-ecological challenges.
Comparative Case Studies Of Civic Participation And Engagement
Qualitative research, comparing (at least 15) case studies of different forms of civic participation and engagement, with attention to more vulnerable and disenfranchised segments of society.