EUth · Project

Ready-to-Use Digital Platform for Running Youth Participation and Citizen Engagement Campaigns

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Imagine you're a city government wanting to ask young people what they think about a new park or transport plan, but nobody shows up to town hall meetings. EUth built an online and mobile platform — think of it as a customizable toolkit — where you can set up surveys, discussions, and voting so young citizens can participate from their phones. They tested it with real cities like Paris and organizations across Europe, then gave 10 municipalities €10,000 each to run their own campaigns on it. The whole thing comes with a digital handbook that walks you through exactly how to set it up and manage it.

By the numbers

Pilot projects with real organizations

Consortium partners

European countries involved

Municipalities funded through Open Call

€10,000

Funding per Open Call municipality

€2,579,500

Total EU contribution

Project deliverables

SMEs in the consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Cities, municipalities, and youth organizations across Europe struggle with low participation rates in public consultations — especially among young people who won't attend traditional town hall meetings. Running digital engagement campaigns requires both the right technology and the know-how to manage online communities, but most organizations lack both. Without accessible digital participation tools, policy decisions are made without input from the people most affected by them.

The solution

What was built

A modular digital participation platform combining web and mobile tools (built on Adhocracy and FlashPoll software), a digital decision-support tool for planning participation campaigns, country-specific guidelines for community management and security, and a method handbook. The platform was piloted with 3 organizations and independently deployed by 10 municipalities. A total of 29 deliverables were produced across the project.

Audience

Who needs this

Municipal governments running public consultations or participatory budgetingGovTech and civic tech companies building citizen engagement productsInternational youth organizations managing member discussions and votingNational and regional agencies with digital democracy mandatesCommunity centers and local NGOs organizing neighborhood engagement

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Municipal Government & Public Administration

any

Target: City councils and regional authorities with civic engagement mandates

If you are a municipal government struggling with low citizen turnout in public consultations — this project developed a modular online participation platform tested across 3 pilot projects in 8 European countries. It includes a digital decision-support tool that guides you step-by-step through setting up participative processes, from community management to online moderation. 10 municipalities already used it independently through an Open Call program.

Civic Tech & GovTech Software

SME

Target: Software companies building citizen engagement or e-democracy tools

If you are a GovTech company looking for proven participation technology to integrate into your product — EUth built modular eParticipation applications on top of Adhocracy and FlashPoll software, combining web and mobile participation. The platform was designed through participative product development in a living lab with real users across 8 countries. With 11 partners contributing 29 deliverables, the codebase and method library represent significant reusable IP.

Youth Organizations & NGOs

any

Target: International youth networks and community organizations running member engagement

If you are a youth organization trying to improve communication and decision-making with your members — AEGEE, one of Europe's largest youth networks, used EUth's platform to transform its internal discussion and voting process. The platform includes country-specific guidelines covering security, community management, and online moderation. It was specifically designed to make participation attractive for younger, mobile-first audiences.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to use or license this platform?

The project had an EU contribution of EUR 2,579,500 across 11 partners over 3 years. The platform was built on open-source foundations (Adhocracy, FlashPoll from EIT/ICT Labs). Based on available project data, specific licensing terms are not detailed — contact the coordinator for current availability and pricing.

Can this scale to a large city or national-level consultation?

The platform was tested across 3 structured pilot projects and then deployed independently by 10 additional European municipalities through an Open Call. It was designed to be modular and adaptive, serving organizations 'of any size and level.' Based on available project data, it handled organizations ranging from city-level (Paris) to cross-border (Italy-Slovenia) use cases.

Who owns the IP and can we build on it?

The consortium of 11 partners from 8 countries developed the platform, with the coordinator being Nexus Institut (Germany, SME). The underlying software (Adhocracy, FlashPoll) originated from EIT/ICT Labs. Based on available project data, specific IP arrangements would need to be discussed with the coordinator.

Has this been tested with real users or just in a lab?

Yes, extensively. Three structured pilots ran with real organizations: AEGEE (European youth network), the City of Paris with French community centers, and a cross-border pilot between Italian and Slovenian city administrations. An additional 10 municipalities ran independent participation campaigns through a funded Open Call.

How hard is it to integrate this into our existing systems?

The platform was built as a modular, adaptive system specifically designed to be 'easy-to-use and perfectly user-adapted' through participative product design in a living lab. It includes a digital decision-support tool and country-specific guidelines covering practical issues like security and community management. Based on available project data, the modular architecture was intended to allow selective feature adoption.

Is there ongoing support or is this a dead project?

The project ran from March 2015 to February 2018 and is now closed. However, the consortium included 5 SMEs with commercial incentives to maintain the technology. The project's innovation strategy explicitly included deployment plans for sustainability beyond the funding period. Contact the coordinator for current status.

Does this comply with EU regulations on digital participation and data protection?

The platform was developed with country-specific guidelines addressing security concerns. As an EU-funded Innovation Action involving 8 countries, it was designed within European regulatory contexts. Based on available project data, specific GDPR compliance details (the regulation took effect during the project period) should be verified with the coordinator.

Consortium

Who built it

The EUth consortium of 11 partners from 8 countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, Slovenia) is well-balanced for a civic tech project. With 5 SMEs making up nearly half the partnership, there is strong commercial motivation to sustain the platform beyond funding. The 3 industry partners (27% industry ratio) bring product development discipline, while the mix of 1 university, 1 research organization, and 6 other entities (likely NGOs and public bodies) ensures the platform was tested with actual end-users rather than just in a lab. The coordinator, Nexus Institut, is a German SME specializing in cooperation management — a practical choice for a project centered on participative processes. The geographic spread across 8 countries means the platform was designed for cross-cultural deployment from the start.

NEXUS INSTITUT FUR KOOPERATIONS MANAGEMENT UND INTERDISZIPLINARE FORSCHUNG GMBHCoordinator · DE
ISTITUTO DI STUDI PER L'INTEGRAZIONE DEI SISTEMI - SOCIETA'COOPERATIVAparticipant · IT
KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLANparticipant · SE
MISSIONS PUBLIQUESparticipant · FR
AGENCE EUROPEENNE POUR L'INFORMATION ET LE CONSEIL DES JEUNES ASBLparticipant · LU
ASSOCIATION DES ETATS GENERAUX DES ETUDIANTS DE L'EUROPEparticipant · BE
FONDEN DEMOCRACY Xparticipant · DK

How to reach the team

Nexus Institut für Kooperationsmanagement und Interdisziplinäre Forschung GmbH (Germany, SME) — use SciTransfer's coordinator lookup service to find current contact details.

Order a report on this consortium See NEXUS INSTITUT FUR KOOPERATIONS MANAGEMENT UND INTERDISZIPLINARE FORSCHUNG GMBH profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how EUth's citizen participation platform could work for your municipality or organization? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the development team and help assess fit for your specific needs.

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