Research Area

Interoperability Assessment, e-Government

Short Description

MOMENTUM is a Specific Support Action project funded under the European Commission's eParticipation programme (eParticipation 2007/1). The importance of electronic participation is being acknowledged by an increasing number of governments at a European level as well as worldwide.

 

In this context, and as governments try to re-invigorate representative democracy and engage with citizens, there is an overall need for all stakeholders involved to learn from the experiences of current eParticipation initiatives.

 

Currently, numerous relevant projects exist (both at a research and trial level) with diverse objectives, scope and expected results reflecting the stakeholders varying expectations. This fragmented approach does not enable either to collectively address the key issues of the eParticipation paradigm or (and more importantly) to identify complementarities and eventually exploit synergies thus achieving economies of scale.

 

MOMENTUM aims to bridge this gap. The main contribution of the project lies in the support action of creating a network of existing and new eParticipation projects funded by the EU in order to monitor, evaluate, consolidate and disseminate their results. MOMENTUM seeks to enhance coordination and cooperation among these projects in order to rectify the apparent lack of cooperation with the intention to provide an opportunity for parallel and joined-up activities.

 

The ultimate aim of such an approach is to increase cooperation among the relevant stakeholders, increase the overall understanding of eParticipation and, consequently, measure the impact of the approach and identify potential opportunities. All these aspects are critical in order to establish how stakeholders perceive eParticipation, how ICTs may be affecting eParticipation by changing existing practices, and affecting it as they become new instruments for achieving local democracy and enhancing citizen participation.

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