Tech for Democracy
German-Israeli Research Initiative on Digital Democracy
Research focus
Digital Democracy and Participation
The FZI coined the term “Digital Citizen Participation” to describe inclusive, modern, and democratic forms of digital engagement.
In addition to designing and developing digital participation processes and platforms, the research focus for the year 2025, under the theme of Digital Democracy and Participation, will shed light on the opportunities and challenges of democracy in times of digital transformation to contribute to shaping a digital society. In doing so, it follows the FZI Code of Ethics and aims at research and knowledge for the benefit of society.
By expanding this research focus, FZI projects such as DeFaktS, which aims to research and combat disinformation and societal polarization tendencies, can be better integrated into the FZI’s research and become more visible in the Digital Government sector.
The work of the FZI is not only aimed at citizens and potential users but also strengthens research collaborations, businesses, as well as city and municipal administrations. Through empirical and evidence-based research and engineering innovative applications, the FZI helps to make digital participation more visible and tangible for the benefit of individuals and society. With its expertise, the FZI also aims to enable digital engagement and participation in the fields of science and research, the public sector, organizations and companies, as well as technology development.
Expertise
The FZI combines technological and development expertise with knowledge about the societal challenges of our time. It benefits from over 30 years of experience in conceiving and implementing interdisciplinary projects, such as in the fields of health or mobility, transportation, and logistics.
- Participatory procedures with a focus on human-computer interaction, visualizations, and data analysis
- Market and platform design
- Evaluation, behavior, and acceptance studies
- Methodological consulting on involving citizens in technology development
- Design and development of digital participation formats for companies, organizations, the public sector, science, and technology development
- Evaluation of digital participation formats (e.g., for cities and municipalities) and platform design according to the latest human-computer interaction standards
- Gamification and user experience approaches, as well as incentive mechanisms
- Consumer behavior, data science, and design science research
- Immersive systems (extended, virtual, and augmented reality)
- Recommender systems
- Applied Artificial Intelligence methods such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning, (explainable) Artificial Intelligence, and Process Mining
Are you interested in our expertise?
Please feel free to contact us about possible collaborations or research commissions.
Head of House of Participation (HoP)
Information Process Engineering
- +49 30 7017337-338
- fegert@fzi.de
- Branch Office Berlin
Transfer
Physical and virtual participation showrooms, along with a new podcast series
After establishing the House of Participation as a competence and advisory center for Digital Citizen Participation within the FZI in 2021, the goal for 2025 is to bring the topics of digital participation and democracy more strongly into government, administration, economy, and society.
This is supported by the HoP podcast series on participation, democracy, and representation in the digital age (HoPcast). It discusses challenges and success stories with relevant stakeholders, promoting international networking and knowledge transfer.
Research Infrastructure
Virtual and physical demonstrators
With a participation showroom in the FZI branch in Berlin, a physical space is created to make digital participation formats tangible and showcase selected works of the HoP. In addition, a presentation of the House of Participation, for example in the form of a demonstrator, is planned in the (virtual) FZI House of Living Labs in Karlsruhe.
Research projects
Digital Democracy and Participation
SOSEC
Innovative research design for resilient democracies
TWON
Online social networks influence the dissemination of news
FZI House of Participation
The House of Participation focuses on digital citizen participation.
DeFaktS
Fighting disinformation campaigns by disclosing the drivers and stylistic traits
RealWork
Success factors for CoWorking Spaces
VIRTUS
Bringing people together with virtual reality
PrePrint+
Quality assurance procedures for preprint contributions in science
Take Part
Mixed reality platform for citizen participation in construction projects