Two years after its launch, Nets4Dem – the Network of Networks for Democracy – is entering a new phase, continuing its work to build Europe’s largest and most connected network in the field of democracy, civic deliberation, participation and democratic innovation.
With continued funding support by the European Union, Nets4Dem opens this new chapter with an expanded community of members, a more agile governance model, and new institutional partners, while expanding opportunities for collaboration, learning, and impact.
Building on the lessons of its first phase, Nets4Dem aims to become more relevant, agile, inclusive and responsive to its network’s needs. The network now brings together more than 81 members across 38 European countries, and reaches over 200 cities, 75 national governments, 50 universities and think tanks, and 400 civil society organisations through its wider membership.
This new phase will also expand to new areas of work:
- Youth Democracy Labs and new city pilots in Lodz (Poland) and Leipzig (Germany), testing participatory solutions with young people at the local level.
- Training programmes delivered in non-English languages, expanding access across underrepresented regions.
- An AI-powered helpdesk giving policymakers and practitioners real-time, curated guidance on democratic innovation.
- A Participation Action Group bringing together frontrunning national governments, led by Open Government Partnership and chaired by France and the United Kingdom, to embed citizen participation more firmly in national policy reform.
- Research sprints and foresight work to anticipate emerging challenges for democratic governance.
- Multidisciplinary research groups to identify and tackle the evidence gaps that still limit democratic innovation.
Governments across Europe are increasingly committed to embedding citizen participation in policymaking, but many still lack the tools, evidence, or peer networks to do it well. Nets4Dem can help, which is why in its second phase, the network aims to become part of the sustainable and indispensable infrastructure that helps institutions turn that commitment into practice.
What we achieved so far
Nets4Dem’s first phase helped turn fragmented knowledge and practice in democratic innovation into a structured European community of civil society organisations, researchers, practitioners and public institutions working and learning together.
The network has reviewed more than 1,160 research projects and developed an open-access Knowledge Database on Democratic Innovation. Its online resources now include more than 300 practical publications and tools in 33 European languages, making evidence more accessible to policymakers and practitioners across the continent.
Nets4Dem has also invested heavily in practical capacity building. More than 200 policymakers and practitioners from 29 countries have participated in its training and mentoring programmes, while 92 democratic innovation initiatives have been co-designed and implemented with support from the network.
Through policy dialogues, high-level exchanges and public events, Nets4Dem has engaged more than 750 participants, helping connect practical experience with European and national policy discussions on democratic innovation.
The next phase will build on these results while giving members a greater role in shaping priorities, initiating collaborative work and guiding the network’s longer-term development.
By strengthening links between research, policy and practice, Nets4Dem aims to help democratic innovation become more inclusive, effective and firmly embedded in institutions across Europe.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
