COLDIGIT

The Quest for Efficient Deliberation and Proximity Democracy: The Case of Participatory Budgeting in Helsinki

All over the world, citizens have a say on how their hometowns focus parts of their budgets. Participatory budgeting is a democratic innovation for urban development also in Helsinki, where the process is called OmaStadi. With direct democracy, online democracy and co-creation as their assets, the local people had a chance to debate, discuss and vote for the allocation of 4,4, million euros in 2018-2020. In our academic evaluation report, we analyse the OmaStadi process using versatile methods and sources. The end result is an overall evaluation of success, lessons learned and recommendations.

Read the article by Pekka Tuominen, Mikko Rask and Titiana Ertiö in EuropeNow

https://www.europenowjournal.org/issues/issue-41-may-2021/

Final evaluation report:

https://bibu.fi/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/BIBU_OmaStadi_English.pdf

Image credit: Raquel Benmergui

On February, 22nd 2021, NordForsk organized a kick-off meeting for the projects funded under its Research and Innovation Programme Digitalisation of the Public Sector. Some seventy participants from all six projects took part in a series of small group discussions about stepping outside the research box, dissemination and research strategies.

Here are three take-aways from the meeting, which we’ll keep in mind during COLDIGIT’s lifespan:

1. Potential of digital transformation in the public sector. The Scandinavian countries and the UK consistently top UNs E-government Development Index . COLDIGIT is uniquely positioned to produce research that informs policies within and beyond these contexts.
2. Nordic added value through research cooperation between consortia partners. COLDIGIT will build on exceptional strong Scandinavian tradition on participatory design, scientific quality, efficiency, and trust.
3. Engagement with society. Nordic added value is co-created as dialogue among stakeholders. In COLDIGIT, we investigate three streams of co-creation, co-innovation and co-funding; co-production of knowledge; and co-construction of policies and decisions. Co-creation facilitates knowledge on the implementation and development of digital tools in ways that contribute to a dynamic and responsible digital transformation.

All in all, it was a privilege to learn about sister-projects and meet the six research teams. Looking forward to contributing alongside them in achieving the goals of the Digitalization of the Public Sector Programme.

The COLDIGIT project has been launched in early November, with consortium partners discussing practical matters and research agendas.