How Innovation Ecosystems Foster Citizen Participation Using Emerging Technologies in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands

3. What can governments do to improve innovation in citizen participation using emerging technology?

Abstract

The chapter offers a concluding analysis of the innovation ecosystems in Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, highlighting key factors that support and challenge the use of emerging technologies for citizen participation. It examines the role of digital infrastructure, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and local government leadership in fostering innovation. It also identifies shared challenges, such as inconsistent funding, digital inclusion, and capacity gaps in the public sector. The chapter concludes with actionable recommendations for governments, drawing on lessons from the three countries, and proposes avenues for future research to further advance citizen participation using emerging technologies.

Innovation in citizen participation in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands is supported by a strong digital infrastructure, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and extensive experimentation at the local level. All three countries have digital infrastructures, providing a foundation for technology-enabled citizen participation. Multi-stakeholder collaboration between the public sector, private sector, academia, and civil society in platforms, such as the Open Government Fora, and individual initiatives across all the countries is a vital enabler of innovation and knowledge generation in citizen participation, with each sector playing key roles to develop new approaches and ensure participation is inclusive and effective. Open-source standards in the development of technology, enabling transparency and community building around digital platforms, is a key principle in each country. Finally, in all the three countries, it is municipalities and local governments that are driving innovative initiatives in citizen participation.

In their innovation ecosystems for citizen participation, the three countries share common challenges including a lack of strategic direction, trust in government, sustainable funding, digital inclusion, and capacities in the public administration. All three countries face challenges in setting clear, sustained, national-level strategic direction and guidance for citizen participation initiatives. This results in disjointed efforts and inconsistent approaches across different levels of government. Declining trust in government institutions and the potential misuse of technology are shared concerns, potentially hampering the effectiveness of citizen participation efforts and innovation in the field. Inconsistent and unsustainable funding for open-source digital participation platforms and innovative methods creates uncertainty and inhibits collaboration and innovation. While the degree varies, all three countries face challenges in ensuring that digital participation tools are accessible and usable by all segments of the population. Finally, a lack of capabilities and capacities to design and facilitate citizen participation in the public administration means that initiatives are not always effective or well communicated and can result in negative experiences for participating citizens.

The countries differ in the actors initiating and promoting citizen participation initiatives, the structure of their ecosystems, their use of technology and levels of digital literacy. In Portugal and the Netherlands, the public sector, particularly at the municipal level, is the primary driver of citizen participation. In Portugal, central government entities, notably AMA, play a prominent role encouraging and supporting effective citizen participation and innovation in the field, and there are few private sector actors working on citizen participation. In Spain, civil society organisations play a more dominant role alongside local governments to stimulate innovation in citizen participation, with the Open Government Forum acting as an important coordinator between sectors at the national level. The ecosystem in the Netherlands has more consolidated practices in terms of exchanges across sectors, continuation and regularity of initiatives, and the intensity and proactiveness of private actors, with public sector institutions like Kennisknooppunt Participatie and initiatives like OpenStad providing anchors for collaboration.

Spain and the Netherlands have more widespread and consolidated use and development of digital participation tools than Portugal. This aligns with their higher rates of digital literacy and internet usage as well as the presence of more technology developers working in the field, particularly in the private sector and civil society. While actors in all three countries highlight sustainable funding as an issue, for Spain and the Netherlands it is specified as more of a challenge for established initiatives aiming to innovate in citizen participation, while in Portugal it is identified as an issue for start-ups and civil society organisations. Similarly, Portugal stands out among the countries as identifying the small size of its market as a barrier for scaling innovations and necessitating greater international collaboration.

Drawing on the experiences of Portugal, the Netherlands, and Spain, Table 3.1 identifies key lessons and proposes actions for governments to enhance innovation ecosystems for citizen participation and emerging technology. Proposed actions are often associated with concrete examples of good practices from the three countries under consideration.

Table 3.1. Lessons and actions

Lessons	Proposed actions
1. Call for clear national strategic direction to unify current disjointed efforts to enhance citizen participation with emerging technology .	Providing clear goals, such as through a dedicated national strategy, supported by tools and guidance, could help to improve alignment and support collaboration to enhance citizen participation with emerging technology. Portugal’s Guiding Principles and Spain's Open Government Action Plans provide a model for setting national objectives and guidance but could go further to establish a clear focus on technological innovation for citizen participation.
2. Innovation in citizen participation are largely driven by local governments	Network organisations that provide support to public administrations at the local level can help them to drive innovation, share their knowledge and experiences and enable good practices to be replicated and scaled. The Network of Participative Municipalities (RAP) in Portugal, supports knowledge sharing and gives an annual award for Good Participation Practices, while the VNG in the Netherlands manages aspects of digital participation technologies that are too complex for individual municipalities, such as maintaining the codebase for open-source tools
3. National ecosystem-wide bodies which coordinate actors and promote good practices can support innovation and successful implementation of citizen participation initiatives using emerging technologies	A co-ordination structure, such as the Netherlands' Kennisknooppunt Participatie, presents a model that could be expanded or adapted to promote good practices, support co-ordination, and set shared frameworks for evaluation.
4. Innovation in citizen participation is inhibited by a lack of public sector capabilities to facilitate initiatives and implement new technologies	Experimentation labs that conduct experiments, provide training and develop guidelines. can help to enhance public sector capabilities. Portugal’s LabX and Spain’s HazLab present promising models.
5. Inconsistent funding for citizen participation tools and initiatives creates uncertainty that inhibits collaboration and the exploration and development of innovations	Sustainable funding mechanisms connected to clear strategic goals can ensure that innovative approaches continue to be supported, developed and iterated.
6. Shared standards and a commitment to open source enable effective collaboration and the adaptation of tools to different contexts.	Setting shared standards, such as the Netherlands’ commitment to open source, can facilitate collaboration, interoperability, and innovation. Spain's success with Decidim and Consul, which have been adopted internationally, further demonstrates the potential of open-source tools.
7. Innovation in citizen participation is enabled by multi-sectoral collaboration and exchanges	Establishing networks and initiatives that promote cross-sectoral collaboration and knowledge exchange on citizen participation and emerging technologies enables new perspectives and ideas to be shared and acted upon.
8. Technology should be itself developed in an inclusive, responsible and participated way, with its applications to citizen participation subscribing to democratic values	Ethical guidelines and guardrails for the use of AI, blockchain, and other emerging technologies in citizen participation developed in collaboration with CSOs can help to ensure that these initiatives are inclusive and aligned with democratic values. Focus on an inclusive approach through ensuring accessibility of all citizens, engaging in diverse outreach strategies to communicate with diverse profiles (e.g. demographic), message tailoring to resonate to different cultural and social contexts, and partner with community leaders and organizations to connect with hard-to-reach groups. The AI Portugal 2030 strategy, which aims to modernise the administration through the ethical use of AI (OECD, 2023[15]), presents an interesting approach
9. Citizens require reassurance about how their input is used in decision-making	Clear feedback mechanisms that demonstrate how citizen input influences decision-making can give citizens the confidence and motivation to participate. This need was highlighted by experiences across all countries where citizens feel their input isn't genuinely considered.
10. International collaboration provides opportunities for knowledge sharing, improvement and scaling.	International institutions like the Open Government Partnership and IOPD have provided knowledge and direction for a wide range of actors working on citizen participation. For private sector actors, global engagement opens possibilities for scaling and incentivises continued development.

Looking forward, there are five immediate avenues for further exploration:

1. Investigating the long-term impacts of different participatory approaches, including those employing emerging technologies, on trust in government and civic engagement would provide valuable insights for policymakers and support the adaptation and scaling-up of good practices.

2. Exploring how emerging technologies like AI and blockchain can be effectively and ethically integrated into citizen participation processes while ensuring inclusivity is a critical area for future research.

3. Studying the effectiveness of approaches to build capacity for managing and evaluating participatory processes and increase awareness of the value of citizen participation in the public administration could help address the capability gap identified across the three countries.

4. Examining how international collaboration and knowledge sharing can be further enhanced to accelerate innovation in citizen participation methods and technologies presents an important opportunity for advancing the field.

5. Fine-tuning and consolidating the use of systemic approaches to understand innovation ecosystems, building on the methodology used in this study, can bring governments robust and relevant insights to design, implement and evaluate policies targeting the improvement of citizen participation with emerging technologies.

6. As emerging technologies transform society and the public administration, ongoing research and experimentation will be crucial to ensuring that participatory processes remain effective, inclusive, and aligned with democratic values. By learning from the experiences of Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, and continuing to explore new approaches, policymakers and practitioners can work towards creating more robust and responsive democratic systems that meaningfully engage citizens in the decision-making processes that shape society around them.