Funded under the aegis of the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme (HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-10), the overarching objective of the IDEAL project is to enhance political participation across different cultural and linguistic groups, contributing to more inclusive and representative democratic governance processes at all levels of the European Union. To achieve this, IDEAL aims to leverage the benefits of automated language tools and social innovation approaches to support the creation of an inclusive European public space for deliberation that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers. The project will support deliberation on key European issues by traditionally vulnerable and/or marginalised groups in society through the development of a unique participatory methodology underpinned by insights from the Conference on the Future of Europe, an in-depth theoretical analysis of the European democratic landscape, and the development of advanced AI-based tools and technologies. The key outputs of the project will be rigorously tested in experimental field settings based in Greece, Austria, and Belgium supporting deliberation in offline, online, and hybrid contexts.

The project cannot be more timely. In the last few years, events at home and abroad have tested the openness and resilience of democratic politics across Europe. Cultural and linguistic diversity are not new phenomena to the continent – people of diverse backgrounds already reside in these countries – however, economic crises, the Covid-19 pandemic, armed conflict in Africa and the Middle East, and the war in Ukraine have resulted in an influx of people that has intensified the debate about whether increased multiculturalism will result in the fragmentation of European democracy, or its revitalization by bringing new participants and perspectives to European democratic forums.

The plan of work outlined within IDEAL seeks to achieve the project’s objectives by harnessing the new mechanisms of crowdsourcing, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation to concretise the emerging ideas of citizens, and to support the development of co-created solutions on issues they consider important. Work undertaken during the course of the project will focus on structuring debate and discussion around key topics such as migration, health, and energy management; encouraging the generation of perspectives that then form the basis of local, regional and national innovation and development initiatives. The project will also seek to leverage collaboration amongst the various actors comprising the quadruple helix during the implementation of the proposed ideas and plans. Policy recommendations will be developed where necessary in order to cement outcomes.

The IDEAL consortium comprises 12 partners from 8 countries across Europe. The project brings together three academic organisations (the University of the Aegean, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and one research institute (Center for the Study of Democracy), which together represent significant expertise in the diverse scientific specialisms related to political participation, good governance, and the use of digital tools for enhancing democratic engagement; three high-growth SMEs (EXUS AI, 21C, SUITE 5), to develop advanced digital tools and lead the dissemination activities; and finally five NGOs (IASIS, Leaders International, Caritas Vienna, Innopac, Relais Culture Europe) to actively engage with relevant stakeholders from diverse target communities, gather requirements, evaluate methodologies, develop tools, and design regulatory recommendations.