The recent project meeting brought together various partners to discuss progress, align future activities, and present results achieved so far. Over two days of intensive sessions, crucial topics were covered, from deliberative methodologies and technologies supporting them, scaling dynamics to co-design activities, and communication strategies to data management This report summarises the key highlights of the two days and specifically the significant insights and actionable outcomes for the project.
Day 1
The initial session provided a comprehensive overview of current progress and forthcoming deliverables, setting a clear agenda for the work packages and activities ahead, especially considering that the experimentation in pilot settings wil start after the summer. Key updates on amendments and deliverable timelines were shared, establishing a concrete path forward.
Results from the one-on-one workshops with pilots highlighted effective scaling dynamics within pilots’ execution and beyond, also pointing at possible ways to achieve positive impacts on marginalised target groups concerning each specific ecosystem. This session further vets into mapping the scaling dynamics that the pilots will implement and discussing the specific deliberative activities planned for the experimentation. These discussions confirmed the project’s progress in terms of integrating the conceptual framework with pilots’ activities and the support of technologies, serving as a clarified starting point for the next meeting sessions.
Following, the presentation of the ORBIS solution in terms of functionalities per each of the tools part of which will compose the ORBIS toolkit, deepened the technical understanding and addressed key questions, enhancing overall clarity of the project’s technological direction, especially given its incoming operationalisation.
In parallel pilots developed an updated version of their road map of activities fine tuned in respect of the general scaling framework and amplified thanks to a reflective session on marginalised target groups.
This activity was run as a co-design workshop that facilitated collaboration among participants, understanding technical solutions within the perspective of potentially achievable dynamics of scaling. This interactive session fostered meaningful dialogue between pilots and technological partners, leading to the definition of future activities.
Overall, the results underscored a cohesive strategy moving forward. The first day of the meeting contributed to reinforcing the project’s trajectory and further consolidating the foundation for subsequent phases, ensuring all participants are aligned and equipped for the tasks ahead.
Day 2
The second day of the meeting was aimed at reinforcing the project’s strategic foundations, vetting into a consistent communication strategy that embeds the project’s outputs, from showcasing the ORBIS technological toolkit to showing how it is adopted across the use cases, and how it will contribute to derive new models of deliberative democracy at various scales.
The second day also looked into how the project progress requires updates on the data management plan, underscoring the rigorous and transparent approach to data. The session detailed the creation of a living repository for FAIR dataset collection, and the initiation of sharing open data and results from current projects, thus supporting data sharing, integrity, and accessibility.
Moreover, the day welcomed parallel sessions for further aligning technological activities and maintaining consistency across different work streams and working tables. Specific attention was drawn on the concept of “Digitally Involved” and large-scale deliberation, clarifying crucial issues for enhancing participation and favouring assessment, thus resulting in novel needs to be considered for the project’s strategic direction.
The day concluded with further collaborative activities, vertical on specific topics of relevance for the ongoing activities, serving to further cement the groundwork laid throughout the meeting and ensuring a cohesive approach to the future phases.
Conclusions
The ORBIS meeting concluded with a comprehensive review of the project’s progress and addressed the various open points in need of discussion, favouring a strategic planning for future phases. Updates on Work Package objectives, pilot activities, and technological solution functionalities highlighted the ongoing advancements and the deep interplay among all the activities. Especially the interactive sessions and collective discussions were instrumental in aligning partners and defining the project’s next steps. Overall, this meeting served as a crucial moment where partners could share their experiences, address open challenges, question approaches, and plan upcoming activities with enhanced precision and clarity. The outcomes of this meeting have strengthened the project’s foundation, ensuring all stakeholders are well-prepared for the incoming experimentation which will take place from the end of this summer.