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Saturday, 06 May 2023 10:11

Europe-wide study: digital technologies become a strong factor in democracy Featured

The market for online participation and deliberation in Europe is expected to grow to 300 Million Euros in the next five years, and the market for e-voting to 500 Million Euros.

According to a new report published jointly by The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and The Innovation in Politics Institute, Ddgital technologies present a strong opportunity for governments in Europe to better engage with citizens. But lack of funding, security and quality standards are slowing down the development of new forms of democratic processes.’

The study suggests that the development of Europe-wide quality standards for security and processes, as new forms of participatory and deliberative democracy are widely applied in many European countries.

In the words of Dubravka Šuica, European Commission vice-president for democracy & demography, “Democracy is constantly evolving. I was a co-chair of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Its launch coincided with a pandemic. The online multilingual digital platform was no longer just a tool to support the deliberative process. It became vital to ensure that citizens could connect, contribute and participate in their democracy.”

Further, the study suggests that national agencies for online participation should be established to support local governments and ensure consistent quality for this new democratic infrastructure.

Demand for participatory and deliberative forms of democracy is growing rapidly in Europe, as local and regional governments seek ways to include more citizens in policy making. To handle the input of large numbers of people, technology applications for online participation, deliberation and e-voting developed by private companies, non-profit organisations and governments have been introduced in recent years.

Kevin Casas-Zamora, International IDEA Secretary-General also observed that “Digital tools and the Internet are and will remain a key infrastructure for democracy. Leveraging these capabilities will be key to making democracy fit for purpose in the 21st century and beyond. Citizens expect and deserve nothing less.”

The study investigated the growing market of democracy technologies by interviewing practitioners in governments, experts and company representatives across Europe.

Key findings are:

• There are currently more than 100 vendors in Europe in the online participation, deliberation and voting sector. The vast majority of the industry representatives reported a strong increase in demand for their services.
• The market for online participation and deliberation in Europe is expected to grow to 300 Million Euros in the next five years, and the market for e-voting is expected to grow to 500 Million Euros. There is a window of opportunity for European providers of democracy technologies to expand beyond Europe, as their products and services have been positively received in other regions of the world.
• Balancing ease of access and secure authentication of citizens remains an area where further development is required and represents a potential risk of democracy technologies. In many participatory budgets, people can propose projects and vote on a city’s budget even though they are not eligible residents. Also, as end-to-end verifiable systems are becoming available for online voting, vendors believe that security standards are required for end-to-end verifiable voting.
• The findings of the study suggest that the introduction of a Europe-wide quality trust mark for core processes of democracy technologies would be welcomed in the political sphere. It would contribute to the growth of citizen participation by increasing confidence among users and buyers of such technologies.
• Further, in some countries, the legal framework for participatory and deliberative democracy and online voting is lagging behind the situation on the ground, especially regarding inclusiveness, data usage, accountability and transparency.

The report suggests that national agencies for online participation and voting should be established to address local governments’ needs and ensure consistent quality in participation processes. These agencies should provide know-how and offer local governments advice on security-checked tools, as well as developing recommendations for lawmakers and evaluating the impact of participatory processes.

“The growing market of democracy technologies should be supported by governments across Europe, as it brings new forms of democratic practice and is strengthening trust in democracy. But we also need Europe-wide quality standards, so that citizens can rely on this new democratic infrastructure,” added Edward Strasser, CEO and co-founder of the Innovation in Politics Institute.

The full report may be download here.

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