Description
The Platform for Political Innovation is a project aiming to strengthen the role and efficiency of civil society in Greece, focusing on the imperative need for innovation in policy-making. The project includes: comparative research and data visualization on political rights and the institutional role of civil society in Greece, educational programmes in participatory design and participatory leadership, innovation labs for the development of prototype participatory decision-making processes at local and national level, applications and activities for the dissemination of new knowledge and information on the democratic deficit in Greece and the potential of democratic and collaborative practices in today’s world, an international interdisciplinary meeting on ‘Social and Technological Innovation for Democracy’ as well as open source technological tools for civic engagement. The proposed action plan constitutes the phase b of the wider social project “POLITEIA 2.0: Democracy reborn’’ which won the Audience Award in the 2012 European Investment Bank Social Innovation Tournament.
Summary of project results
Innovation in policy making with the active participation of citizens is necessary to enhance democracy. The project “Platform for Political Innovation” aimed at strengthening the role and efficiency of Civil Society in Greece, focusing on the imperative need for innovation in policy-making. The main aim of the project was to create the conditions and develop infrastructure for the transition of policy-making towards new applications: the research, development and application of prototype tools and processes for participatory design and decision making both online and offline, on a local and on a national scale. During the project’s implementation, educational programmes in participatory design and participatory leadership as well as citizens’ innovation workshops for the development of prototype participatory decision-making processes were organized in four cities around Greece, diffusing cutting-edge social technologies (world café, open space, future workshop). Moreover, a comparative research and data visualization on political rights and the institutional role of Civil Society in Greece was developed and distributed online. Open source technological tools for civic engagement and collaboration were also developed and freely distributed and lastly, an international interdisciplinary meeting on “Citizens’ engagement: Participatory design from the local square to the national constitution” was organized in downtown Athens with participants from several countries. The project constituted the phase B of the wider social project “POLITEIA 2.0: Democracy reborn’’ which won the Audience Award in the 2012 European Investment Bank Social Innovation Tournament. The project was implemented through the active engagement of 22 partners from the public, private, and civil society sector, 10 working teams of 50 volunteers and 5 scientific observers from 4 countries. The project activities involved 1000 citizens of all ages and backgrounds face to face and over 20.000 online. The participatory methodologies developed during the project are already being transferred in other fields in Greece, while the partnerships built during the project’s duration have led to new projects that ensure the sustainability of the project’s results.
Summary of bilateral results