This briefing provides an overview of how digital tools can transform the policy process to become more timely, inclusive, data-driven and user-focused.
Key findings
- Using digital tools for all stages of the policy cycle: overview of success stories from across the world
- Country results reveal striking variations across Europe in relation to citizens’ interest in using digital tools to participate in politics
- Four key questions to guide policymakers as they assess the use of digital tools in the policy process
Over the past few years, we have witnessed the rise of completely new markets, business models and technologies, from crowdfunding to the sharing economy and driverless cars. Policymakers need to react fast without stifling innovation, but traditional, offline methods make it difficult to keep up with the pace of technological change. Governments across the world have started to successfully integrate digital tools into their work.
This report reveals inspirational stories from across the world that look at how digital tools can be used successfully throughout the policy lifecycle. To understand how ready is Europe, we have surveyed 9,000 adults across Europe to assess citizens’ interest to participate in politics online.
Country results reveal striking differences across Europe: interest is particularly high in some former Eastern Bloc countries like Bulgaria and Poland, as well as in nations badly hit by the economic crisis, such as Spain or Italy; while citizens in countries with strong and stable welfare states like Sweden, show the least interest in digital policymaking.
Policy recommendations
For policymakers interested to explore the use of digital tools in the policy process, start by asking these four key questions:
- What do you want to achieve?
- Who do you want to reach?
- Which tools are more appropriate?
- How will digital tools interact with the political process?
Digital technology is profoundly changing the way we live and work. Shouldn't it change the way we do politics, too?
This briefing provides an overview of how digital tools can transform the policy process to become more timely, inclusive, data-driven and user-focused.
Reasons to Rethink 21st Century Policy Making
Citizens across Europe feel increasingly disconnected from the political class. Voter turnout in many recent elections has been at an all time low, indicating disillusionment and a lack of trust in the political process.
The digital revolution is changing our societies at an unprecedented rate. Over the past years, we have witnessed the rise of completely new markets, business models and technologies, from crowdfunding to the sharing economy and driverless cars. Policy makers need to react fast without stifling innovation - but traditional, offline methods make it difficult to keep up with the pace of technological change.
What is the Alternative?
Governments across the world have started to successfully integrate digital tools into their work. These tools do not replace offline forms of engagement or traditional democratic institutions. They are a valuable addition that helps:
- Governments and civil servants, to tap into the collective intelligence of citizens, to gather data, to identify issues early on and design better public services.
- Parliaments, to engage citizens in the work of parliament and thereby increase public trust into the political process.
- Political parties, to increase engagement with members who can suggest and vote on priorities and proposals online.
Where Digital Tools Can Help
Digital tools can be used at all stages of the policy cycle. Some tools are designed to gather input from smaller, specialist audiences, while others work for large-scale public deliberation. Many tools are open source and free to use.
| Stages in the Policy Cycle | Observation | Issue Identification | Proposals | Decision-Making | Monitoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital tools can help to: | Involve the public in generating useful data. | Understand and identify key issues citizens worry about. | Involve stakeholders in drafting new laws and policies. | Let the public vote on decisions. | Allow citizens to monitor political activities. |
Digital tools help you design policy and legislation that is:
More Timely, enabling you to gather real-time feedback from citizens and businesses on how issues or new programmes affect them.
More Data-Driven, allowing you to capture new types of data quickly to inform decisions.
More Inclusive, by involving citizens, businesses and key stakeholders at important stages of your decision process.
More User-Focused, enabling you to test more quickly with your stakeholders what works for them.
Success Stories From Across the World
This section presents a world map with various initiatives marked by coloured dots, corresponding to stages in the policy cycle. A legend on the right explains the colour coding:
- OBSERVATION (red dot)
- ISSUE IDENTIFICATION (orange dot)
- PROPOSALS (green dot)
- DECISION-MAKING (purple dot)
- MONITORING (blue dot)
The projects listed are:
- AIRMAP / BIG DATA CHALLENGE 2015 (OBSERVATION, USA): Measuring exposure to air pollution using mobile phone data.
- GOOGLE TRENDS (OBSERVATION, Scotland & USA): Predicting health epidemics such as chicken pox outbreaks.
- FIXMYSTREET (ISSUE IDENTIFICATION, UK): Reporting problems to local councils like graffiti, fly tipping or street lighting.
- BETRI REYJAVIK (PROPOSALS, Reykjavik, Iceland): Submitting ideas about budgetary spend across the city.
- VTAIWAN (PROPOSALS, Taiwan): Engaging thousands of stakeholders in developing legislation for sharing economy, crowdfunding and ride-sharing services.
- LOOMIO (PROPOSALS, New Zealand): Crowdsourcing policy ideas from citizens to develop a city alcohol management strategy.
- D21: I RUN ŘÍČANY (DECISION-MAKING, Czech Republic): Citizen participation in city decisions from choosing an investment project, regulation and city ordinance to picking musicians for the city yearly concert.
- LOI NUMERIQUE (DECISION-MAKING, France): Consulting with citizens to vote on and draft digital laws.
- MADAME MAYOR, I HAVE AN IDEA (DECISION-MAKING, Paris, France): Participatory budgeting, allocating €500 million to projects proposed by citizens.
- MZALENDO (MONITORING, Kenya): Allowing citizens to analyse parliament activity.
- DECISIONS HELSINKI (MONITORING, Helsinki, Finland): Getting real time alerts about city debates and decisions.
How Ready Is Europe?
In Europe, over 82% of people have access to the internet. 1 However, to make the most of digital policy making, it is important to know how interested Europe’s citizens are in participating in politics online. To understand this, Readie and ComRes surveyed 9,000 adults across Europe. 2 We specifically asked about their interest in using the internet to help with issue identification, proposals and decision-making in the policy cycle.
Our research found that the majority of adults in Europe are interested, or very interested in using digital tools to participate in politics. However, there are striking variations across Europe. The interest is particularly high in some former Eastern Bloc countries like Bulgaria and Poland, where trust in government has been historically lower. Similarly, citizens from nations badly hit by the economic crisis, such as Spain or Italy, have high interest in using digital tools for political engagement. By contrast, citizens in countries with strong and stable welfare states like Sweden, show the least interest in digital policy making.
A horizontal bar chart titled "European adults interested in using the internet to do the following" shows percentages of interest for various activities. The categories and their corresponding percentages are:
- Voting online how government spends budget in areas where they live: 70%
- Creating or signing online petitions asking their government to do something: 65%
- Making suggestions online to their government about how new laws or regulation should be designed: 59%
- Using social media to mobilise others to support a cause: 58%
- Using a website or mobile app to vote in their next general election: 58%
- Talking directly to a politician: 46%
The X-axis ranges from 0% to 100%.
Country Results: Issue Identification
Citizens can use a number of free, easy to access tools like Twitter or Change.org to raise issues to their governments. The public in Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Poland are the most interested in using these tools to take part in the political process.
This section presents two horizontal bar charts showing country results for issue identification, with a legend for "% NOT INTERESTED" and "% INTERESTED".
Adults interested in creating or signing online petitions asking their government to do something:
- Italy: 81% interested, 16% not interested
- Spain: 76% interested, 20% not interested
- Bulgaria: 71% interested, 25% not interested
- UK: 70% interested, 25% not interested
- Poland: 66% interested, 29% not interested
- France: 65% interested, 27% not interested
- Germany: 58% interested, 37% not interested
- Sweden: 50% interested, 44% not interested
- Estonia: 41% interested, 52% not interested
Adults interested in using social media to mobilise others to support a cause:
- Italy: 75% interested, 22% not interested
- Poland: 73% interested, 23% not interested
- Bulgaria: 70% interested, 27% not interested
- Spain: 62% interested, 34% not interested
- France: 54% interested, 36% not interested
- UK: 54% interested, 43% not interested
- Germany: 52% interested, 44% not interested
- Sweden: 45% interested, 48% not interested
- Estonia: 39% interested, 52% not interested
Country Results: Proposals
Italians are the most interested in co-designing specific new laws or regulation with their government. People in Germany and Sweden are split, while Estonia is the only country where the majority - over 51% - is not interested in using the internet to co-design new laws or regulation. In all countries, citizens are less interested in using the internet to talk directly to their politicians.
This section presents two horizontal bar charts showing country results for proposals, with a legend for "% NOT INTERESTED" and "% INTERESTED".
Adults interested in making suggestions online to their government about how new laws or regulation should be designed:
- Italy: 80% interested, 17% not interested
- Spain: 69% interested, 27% not interested
- Bulgaria: 65% interested, 31% not interested
- France: 62% interested, 30% not interested
- UK: 58% interested, 35% not interested
- Poland: 55% interested, 38% not interested
- Germany: 48% interested, 47% not interested
- Sweden: 46% interested, 47% not interested
- Estonia: 41% interested, 51% not interested
Adults interested in using the internet to talk directly to a politician:
- Italy: 65% interested, 33% not interested
- Spain: 52% interested, 44% not interested
- Bulgaria: 51% interested, 44% not interested
- UK: 49% interested, 46% not interested
- France: 45% interested, 47% not interested
- Sweden: 43% interested, 53% not interested
- Poland: 41% interested, 53% not interested
- Germany: 35% interested, 61% not interested
- Estonia: 26% interested, 69% not interested
Country Results: Decision-Making
Voting on budgetary decisions was one of the most popular options in all countries. Voting online in general elections is also popular. Over two thirds of Bulgarian and Polish adults are excited by this opportunity. By contrast, in Germany, the majority of people would prefer to vote in a polling station.
This section presents two horizontal bar charts showing country results for decision-making, with a legend for "% NOT INTERESTED" and "% INTERESTED".
Adults interested in voting online how government spends budget in areas where they live:
- Bulgaria: 79% interested, 18% not interested
- Poland: 79% interested, 17% not interested
- Italy: 73% interested, 22% not interested
- Spain: 73% interested, 23% not interested
- UK: 73% interested, 22% not interested
- France: 68% interested, 25% not interested
- Germany: 62% interested, 33% not interested
- Sweden: 58% interested, 35% not interested
- Estonia: 58% interested, 35% not interested
Adults interested in using a website or mobile app to vote in their next general election:
- Bulgaria: 75% interested, 22% not interested
- Poland: 68% interested, 27% not interested
- Spain: 60% interested, 36% not interested
- Italy: 59% interested, 38% not interested
- UK: 56% interested, 40% not interested
- Sweden: 55% interested, 39% not interested
- Estonia: 52% interested, 43% not interested
- France: 50% interested, 43% not interested
- Germany: 46% interested, 50% not interested
How To Get Started
If you want to trial digital tools in your work, we suggest you start by asking four key questions:
- WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE? Digital tools can help with all stages of the policy cycle, from gathering new data to improving legislation.
- WHO DO YOU WANT TO REACH? Do you want to reach a smaller, specialist audience or do a large-scale public deliberation? Consider which stakeholders might be more or less likely to engage, and who has digital access.
- WHICH TOOLS ARE MOST APPROPRIATE? Your desired goals and the group size of the stakeholders you want to engage will make some tools more feasible than others.
- HOW WILL DIGITAL TOOLS INTERACT WITH THE POLITICAL PROCESS? Consider in advance how the input you gather with digital tools will feed into the overall democratic and political process. Also communicate how this input will inform your final decision to avoid disappointment amongst participants.
How Readie Can Help
READIE is managed by Nesta, one of Europe's leading innovation foundations. Readie is a centre dedicated to empowering policy and decision makers with cutting edge insights into Europe's digital economy. In particular, we provide a platform and support services for sharing existing policies and innovative approaches to foster digital economic growth.
To find out how you can use digital tools in your work get in touch.
CONTACT DETAILS [email protected] +44(0)20 7438 2500 www.readie.eu @ReadieEU
We are kindly sponsored by: Nesta... Google NEMODE RKW Kompetenzzentrum
Nesta
1 Plough Place London EC4A 1DE [email protected] @nesta_uk www.facebook.com/nesta.uk www.nesta.org.uk October 2016
Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE.
Footnotes
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https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2015.pdf ↩
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ComRes interviewed 1,002 British adults, 1,015 German adults, 1,004 French adults, 1,011 Spanish, 1,030 Italian adults, 1,016 Swedish adults, 1,019 Polish adults, 1,006 Estonian adults and 1,004 Bulgarian adults online between 15th and 26th August 2016. Data were weighted by age, gender and region to be representative of all adults aged 18+in these countries. ↩
