At the Innovationsforum 2025 conference in Berlin, leading figures from politics, business, civil society, academia, and the media came together. The goal of the event was to highlight successful strategies, promote mutual learning, and develop effective solutions to key societal challenges.
Keynote speeches by Barbie Kornelia Haller, Vice President of the Federal Network Agency, Philipp Amthor, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernization, and Bartosz T. Wieliński, Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, provided important inspiration throughout the day.
Panels and interactive working groups addressed urgent future issues such as state reform, climate and energy, digitalization, mobility, and migration. At the heart of the forum were proven, scalable approaches—strategies that have already demonstrated impact and can be adapted to diverse contexts.
Among the working groups that drew particular attention was the session on the participation project LiquidFriesland. Under the title “How a Rural Region Set Democratic Impulses for Europe”, the discussion showcased how a rural district began exploring new pathways for digital citizen participation more than a decade ago.
The district of Friesland recognized early the potential of digital participation and took a bold step by introducing the open-source solution LiquidFeedback. While it had been used in other contexts before, Friesland was the first to apply it specifically for democratic citizen engagement. Citizens could submit proposals, discuss them, and vote—openly, transparently, from any location and within flexible timeframes, all without central moderation.
The discussion highlighted key success factors: strong political support, active involvement of local stakeholders, and a brave, hands-on approach to participation. The focus was on making participation concrete, locally grounded, and effective—on equal footing with citizens.
The conversations made it clear that the experiences from Friesland are more relevant than ever. In a time of rapid technological change, growing societal polarization, and increasing pressure on democratic legitimacy, new and urgent questions are emerging:
These questions are central to the EU-funded research project PERYCLES – Participatory Democracy That Scales. The project explores how meaningful participatory processes can be scaled effectively. A key element is the LiquidFeedback framework, which was first used for civic engagement in LiquidFriesland. LiquidFeedback was developed on the basis of scientific insights from various disciplines, which were systematically incorporated into its deliberative and decision-making design.
The working group explored how the lessons from Friesland can be further developed at the European level—not as a nostalgic reflection, but as a concrete contribution to shaping Europe’s democratic digital future.
Innovationsforum 2025 was organized by Hertie School Executive Education in cooperation with the Hertie Foundation, the Federal Agency for Civic Education, and the Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg. The event was generously supported by the Berthold Leibinger Foundation.
