Towards a Crowdsourcing Pilot for EU Citizens: Recommendations

Based on seven conference type workshops organized for citizens, experts and government officials interesting in crowdsourcing in Ljubljana, London, Amsterdam, Athens, Paris, Helsinki and Riga, the following recommendations for the crowdsourcing pilot for EU citizens were created to support debate on the Future of Europe:

1. Recommended EU policy fields / topics that could be crowdsourced: Environment and Healthcare (e.g. air quality). Both are affecting daily life of EU citizens and are representing shared competences of the EU.

2. Recommended tools / platforms to be used: a single platform at the EU level which should be transparent and open-source, multilingual, include multiple ways of participation and contributions, scalable and user-friendly.

3. Recommended time frame / democratic policy cycle phases: “issue identification” by collecting ideas and “policy formulation” through solutions identified by citizens.

The document Towards a Crowdsourcing Pilot for EU Citizens: Recommendations from the EUCROWD Project (pdf) was presented and discussed with relevant EU decision-makers and interested stakeholders at the concluding EUCROWD conference in Brussels.

Crowdsourcing EU legislation: Taking decisions with citizens and not for them!

EUCROWD concluding conference #DDD2018

CROWDSOURCING EU LEGISLATION: TAKING DECISIONS WITH CITIZENS AND NOT FOR THEM!

27 February 2018, BIP, Rue Royale 2-4, 1000 Brussels

Many local and national governments worldwide are using crowdsourcing methods to enable people to participate in policy debates in a constructive way and to learn from each other throughout the deliberation process (“wisdom of the crowd” principle). Digital Democracy Day 2018 is being organised in the framework of the EUCROWD project, under the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Commission, and will focus on how to encourage democratic engagement by exploring several national case studies and establishing a framework for an EU level pilot of crowdsourcing on the “Future of Europe”. The event will give an overview of international crowdsourcing practices, conclusions from conferences in Europe organised by project partners, and recommendations on the most suitable policies to be crowdsourced at EU level and the most appropriate e-participation tools to be used.

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Report from EUCROWD event in Riga

EUCROWD Riga conference

The seventh EUCROWD public event took place in Riga on 23th November 2017. The international conference and discussion “From Crowd to Action – the future of digitalised democracy in Europe?” organized by Sabiedrības Līdzdalības Fonds (Manabalss.lv) brought together 51 citizens from 12 different countries. International and local experts in the field of digital democracy, as well as activists, political scientists and students learned from the best digital participation examples in the Baltic region. The event encouraged discussions on the power of crowdsourcing tools that can influence decisions and policies which are essential for citizens.

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Report from EUCROWD event in Athens

EUCROWD Athens conference & workshop

The fourth EUCROWD public event took place in Athens on 9th May 2017. The international conference and workshop “Let’s Crowdsource the Future of Europe” organized by Science For You brought together 47 citizens from 9 different countries. The event focused on how EU decisions are made and in what ways crowdsourcing will allow citizens to participate directly. In particular, participants discussed when crowdsourcing could be used in the legislative process of the EU, what topics should it cover and what tools and methodologies can enhance crowdsourcing by learning from best practices in Greece.

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