Brașov, Romania / Martin, Slovakia, 9 June 2025 – The ITHACA Project has entered a pivotal phase with the launch of pilot testing for its innovative civic participation platform. Piloted in the cities of Brașov (Romania) and Martin (Slovakia), the platform is designed to empower citizens to actively shape local governance. Mainly by sharing ideas, providing feedback, and engaging in open dialogue with municipal authorities. The ITHACA initiative is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme.

The ITHACA Project is making a significant leap forward! On June 3–4, partners from across Europe came together in Patras, Greece, for a two-day hybrid Plenary Meeting. The goal is to align on project milestones and prepare for the much-anticipated pilot testing phase in Martin, Slovakia, and Brașov, Romania. 🇬🇷🇸🇰🇷🇴

The ITHACA project is entering an exciting and crucial phase. The citizens will have a chance to take part in the real-world pilot testing of the ITHACA innovative civic participation platform. Taking place in Martin, Slovakia (June 9–11, 2025) and Brașov, Romania (June 16–20, 2025), this milestone represents not just a technical achievement. It is a meaningful advancement in reimagining how citizens engage with local governance in a digital world.

At the first episode of the AI, Big Data & Democracy Taskforce webinar series on May 9, 2025, the ITHACA project was honoured to unveil project’s key technical developments. Especially in connection with the ITHACA platform, namely the front-end interface. Its features are designed to ensure accessibility, intuitive user experience, and meaningful civic participation.

The inspiring international conference “How to Build Innovative and Open Self-Government?” brought together experts, public leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts to explore the future of local governance through the lens of innovation, participation, and sustainable development.

Experts from the AI, Big Data, and Democracy Taskforce gathered on 1. October 2024 for the „Trustworthy AI by Design” webinar. The taskforce consists of four EU funded projects which have been cooperating to tackle the challenges of AI and big data while protecting democratic values. Did you miss the webinar? Have a look at the key insights.

In the name of the AI, Big Data, and Democracy Taskforce, we would like to invite you to a webinar on 1. October 2024 at 10.00 am. Join us and get yourself familiar with the key findings of the research on artificial intelligence, big data, democracy, and civic participation.

We recently attended EGOVIS 2024, part of the DEXA 2024 Conferences (https://www.dexa.org/), an event that highlights digital transformation in e-government. Experts from academia, public administration, non-governmental organizations, and industry gathered to explore key topics such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital inclusion.

PEDAL Consulting, s.r.o. hosted the third plenary meeting of the ITHACA project on 19. – 20. June2024, in Bratislava. This crucial networking opportunity served as a platform for knowledge sharing on the project’s progress, its achievements, and potential workflow challenges.

In the endeavour to create a participatory online platform that caters to the diverse needs of stakeholders, the ITHACA project embarked on a comprehensive exploration of requirements from all involved parties. This inclusive approach, involving citizens, municipality workers, managers, technical experts, data analysts, and ethical advocates, underscores the commitment to develop a platform that truly serves the interests of its users as we have mentioned in previous articles.