CoParticipartion
Next Generation Platform for Participatory Process Support
Challenge
Participatory processes (PP), such as municipal participatory budgets, are now a well-established practice that is expanding globally. However, there is an opportunity for transformation: to evolve from simple direct voting mechanisms to dynamic models of co-creation and co-participation, where citizens and other actors actively collaborate in the creation, refinement, selection, and monitoring of proposals.
To keep pace with this evolution, digital participation platforms will need to be thoroughly redesigned to support not only the initial phase (submission and voting on proposals), but also the subsequent phases—implementation and impact assessment. In addition, it is essential to strengthen the security and integrity of the processes, preventing both direct fraud (such as vote manipulation) and indirect fraud (such as the introduction of divisive proposals or the use of bots to distort discussions).
Solution
The goal of the CoParticipation project is to design and produce a technological platform that responds to these challenges inherent in new-generation participatory processes. Among other things, this platform will include the following innovative aspects: (i) sophisticated mechanisms to support the co-creation process, including semantic interpretation tools for recommendation systems and proposal convergence processes; (ii) advanced mechanisms for detecting attempts at fraud and interference in PP; (iii) privacy management solutions to protect participants; and (iv) mechanisms to support the monitoring of the implementation and evaluation of the impact of selected proposals.
Objectives, Activities and Results expected / achieved
The CoParticipation project has six specific objectives: (1) to equip PP platforms with advanced mechanisms to support the co-creation process; (2) to investigate and design mechanisms to detect attempts at fraud and interference in participatory processes; (3) to investigate, design, and introduce privacy solutions into PP platforms to protect stakeholders; (4) equip PP platforms with decision support mechanisms so that participatory process managers can analyze process evolution and promote participation; (5) equip PP platforms to support all cycles of participatory processes; (6) define and execute a strategy for economic exploitation and dissemination of project results, based on the integration of CoParticipation into the three platforms.
Project Reference
COMPETE2030-FEDER-02208000Funding
Intervention Region
PortugalTotal Investment
935.284,96IPN Investment
265.920,00Total Eligible
935.284,96IPN Eligible
265.920,00EC Funding – Total
760.969,52EC Funding – IPN
226.032,00Duration
36 MonthsStart Date
2025-09-01End Date
2028-08-31Approval Date
2025-04-01Consortium
One Source, Consultoria Informática, LdaInstituto Pedro Nunes
AOPP - Associação Oficina de Planeamento e Participação
Keywords
Participatory processes;Artificial Intelligence;
Cibersecurity.
