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
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...
INCITE-DEM kindly invites you to attend the first in a series of four webinarsREFLECTING ON CONFLICTS IN PLANNING PROCESSES USING THE DIALOGUE TOOLpresented by Wander Jager and Shaoni Wang of the University of Groningen onTuesday, MAY 27th // 15:30 - 17:00 CETThe...
INCITE-DEM research at Media, Politics and Democracy Congress
INCITE-DEM was present at the Media, Politics and Democracy Congress organised by ICNova/Nova University of Lisbon and DCC/Autonoma University of Lisbon, which took place on the 28th of February. Our colleagues from the Faculty of Lisbon’s CE3C – Centre for Ecology,...
INCITE-DEM Sheds Light on Democratic Innovations to Address Europe’s Democratic and Sustainability Challenges
The European Union-funded project INCITE-DEM has published two groundbreaking reports exploring the historical contribution of Democratic Innovations (DIs) to more inclusive governance and to tackling pressing sustainability challenges. These findings emerge at a...
The second Incite Dem Newsletter is here!
Hot off the (digital) presses: it's the second issue of the INCITE-DEM newsletter! The newsletter will serve as a central hub for everything related to the INCITE-DEM project. Over the next two years, six issues will be published, detailing the challenges and...
Co-shaping the Future of Democracy: Democracy Lab in Ljubljana
On 14 and 15 November, Focus hosted an inspiring INCITE-DEM Democracy Lab in Ljubljana. This lively, hands-on two-day event brought together 30 citizens, representatives of democratic initiatives, and policymakers to explore ways to make democracy more inclusive,...
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.