The Hackathon brought together around 60 highly motivated developers, designers, researchers, civil society organisations and civic innovators from across Europe to explore practical solutions and lay the foundations for a vibrant European civic tech ecosystem that will gather under the EU Civic Tech Hub (see the European Democracy Shield communication for more information). 

The hackathon functioned as a collective effort to explore how digital technologies can strengthen democratic participation and civic engagement, by making democratic participation more accessible, engaging, inclusive, transparent and impactful. Technology alone cannot solve democratic challenges. However, when thoughtfully designed and responsibly deployed, civic technologies can help lower barriers to participation, facilitate dialogue between institutions and citizens, and contribute to stronger, more resilient democracies. 

The first-ever EU Civic Tech Hackathon addressed four key challenges facing civic tech:

• Challenge 1 – Interoperability and Civic Tech Infrastructure. How can Europe build a more connected civic tech ecosystem and enable tools, communities and initiatives to work better together?
• Challenge 2 – Making Civic Tech Attractive. How can participation become more engaging and reach citizens who do not usually participate?
• Challenge 3 – From Participation to Impact. How can citizens better understand how their contributions influence decisionmaking and see the impact of their participation?
• Challenge 4 – Inclusive, Accessible, Safe and Trustworthy Participation. How can we ensure that participation is open, inclusive, secure and meaningful for everyone?

The hackathon was an opportunity to be creative and to establish connections. The eight teams participating in the hackathon developed high quality, high relevance projects. In the end, the jury decided to highlight three projects, which are also worth mentioning here:

• Close the Loop on Democracy – a civic gateway that helps EU citizens to access official participation platforms and platforms through channels they already use daily such as chat apps;
• The Switch – Creating the Habit of Participation – a platform bringing together participation opportunities from the local to the European level;
• PAM – Participation Advisory and Matching Platform – a one-stop shop for public authorities, making it easier to identify and use existing citizen participation platforms, based on the desired participation process.