On July 24, 2026, members of the Digital Democracy and Participation Research Group and FZI’s House of Participation met with the team of Make.org at their offices in Paris. The exchange focused on how research on digital democracy can generate societal impact and how digital participation can be investigated and evaluated in practice.

The meeting brought together Clarie Alspektor and David Mas from Make.org, Prof. Dr. Uwe Serdült from the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau and Ritsumeikan University, as well as Jessica Wulf, Dr. Jonas Fegert, and Prof. Dr. Christof Weinhardt from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) / House of Participation.

The participants shared insights from previous research and practical experiences in digital participation. They also discussed previous initiatives such as “Forum gegen Fakes” and “Democratic Commons” and explored opportunities for future research collaboration.

The exchange generated new ideas on how citizen participation and democracy research can be more closely connected and how research findings can contribute to democratic innovation in practice.

We would like to thank the Make.org team for the inspiring discussions and their warm hospitality. We look forward to continuing the exchange and exploring future opportunities for collaboration.