On Thursday, 27 August 2026, the INNOVADE project held an interactive workshop on the Organisational Priorities for Thriving Digital Citizen Participation at Stad Geel in Belgium. Led by Dr Laurien Coenen from KU Leuven, the session brought together municipal colleagues supporting local participation, including representatives from the youth and communications departments, to discuss the institutional structures needed alongside technological tools.
As Stad Geel prepares to host one of INNOVADE's primary pilots, technical availability alone is recognised as insufficient for long-term success. Many e-participation platforms fail to achieve sustained impact due to a misalignment between software features and municipal administrative realities. To address this gap, the workshop guided participants through a structured exercise evaluating 40 distinct organisational aspects, spanning project management, internal administrative structures, technology standards, citizen engagement, and staff capacity. The session also drew upon empirical findings from broader INNOVADE research identifying three key organisational profiles within public administrations and the value they bring to devising and using communication and feedback loops. By debating these priorities across municipal departments, the Geel team identified existing institutional strengths and mapped out concrete areas for internal alignment ahead of the pilot deployment.
The methodology used during the workshop forms a central component of Deliverable 3.2 (Governance Framework for the Transition to Digital Democracy / KER4), authored by KU Leuven, ICT Legal Consulting, and Hybrid Core. The exercise demonstrated how academic research can be operationalised into a practical diagnostic tool for local government self-assessment. Local authorities interested in adapting these materials for their own internal reflection exercises are invited to contact Dr Laurien Coenen at KU Leuven.