Pre-selected by the EU Commission for Citizen Participation and Deliberative Democracy services

We are proud to announce that CollectiveUP has been pre-selected by the European Commission to deliver services in pan-European and multinational participatory and deliberative processes. As part of a strong international consortium led by the Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (ÖGUT - Österreichische Gesellschaft für Umwelt und Technik), we have been admitted to Category 1 of the EU's Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for Services for Citizen Participation and Deliberative Processes (COMM/C3/DPS/2023/0001), a landmark framework that will shape how citizens across Europe engage with EU policy-making in the coming years.

This milestone is more than a procurement success. It is a vote of confidence in the expertise, diversity, and collaborative spirit of our consortium, and in CollectiveUP's mission to build bridges between citizens, institutions, and ideas.

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What is the EU DPS, and why does it matter?

The Dynamic Purchasing System is the European Commission's mechanism for procuring services that support its renewed commitment to citizen engagement. Following the Conference on the Future of Europe and President von der Leyen's pledge to embed participatory and deliberative methods into EU policy-making, the Commission established the DPS to source partners capable of designing, facilitating, and scaling meaningful citizen participation across Europe.

Category 1, the category in which our consortium has been admitted, covers pan-European and multinational participatory and deliberative processes, including the high-profile European Citizens' Panels. It is the most demanding category in the system, calling for teams that can design and deliver large-scale, multilingual processes across Member States, from methodology and facilitation to citizen recruitment, digital participation, and reporting.

Being admitted to this framework means our consortium is now eligible to respond to mini-competitions launched by the European Commission over the next four years, with an indicative total volume for Category 1 of up to €50 million.

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A truly European consortium

This success is above all a collective achievement. Our consortium was assembled by Johan van der Meulen in close collaboration with the Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (ÖGUT), and brings together partners active in Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and, thanks to CollectiveUP, Belgium and our wider European network.

Each partner contributes a distinct strength: methodological design, large-scale facilitation, citizen recruitment, digital platform management, multilingual moderation, and local rootedness in different European regions and languages. Together, the consortium demonstrates exactly what the European Commission is looking for in Category 1:

• Experience organising multilingual, large-scale participatory and deliberative processes
• Capacity to mobilise and train teams of professional moderators and facilitators across multiple countries
• Proven random and inclusive citizen recruitment methodologies, designed to reach people beyond the usual participants, including those who are non-digitally skilled, vulnerable, or living with disabilities
• Expertise in digital participation platforms, including civic tech tools such as Decidim, which powers the Commission's Have Your Say portal
• Strong knowledge management, expert coordination, and reporting capabilities

CollectiveUp is delighted to complement this group with our experience in facilitation, co-creation, and inclusive participation, and with our network of partners and practitioners across Europe.

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Why this matters for CollectiveUP, and for citizens

At CollectiveUP, we believe that democracy is strengthened every time citizens are genuinely heard. Deliberative and participatory processes are not a nice-to-have, they are essential tools for navigating the complex challenges Europe faces, from climate transition to digital transformation, from social cohesion to the future of work.

Being selected for this framework allows us to:

• Scale our impact by contributing to participatory processes that reach citizens in every Member State.
• Deepen our practice by working alongside some of Europe's most experienced practitioners in deliberative democracy.
• Champion inclusion, ensuring that the voices of people too often left out of policy conversations are part of the European conversation.
• Advance democratic innovation by helping the European Commission experiment with, and institutionalise, new forms of citizen engagement.

The Commission has been clear that this "new phase of citizens' engagement" is not a one-off moment but a long-term commitment. Citizens' Panels are expected to take place on a yearly basis, complemented by shorter co-creation formats, focus groups, and digital deliberation. We are excited to be part of that journey.

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What's next

Our admission to the DPS is the beginning, not the end. Over the coming months and years, the Commission will launch mini-competitions under Category 1, and our consortium will respond with concrete proposals tailored to each brief. Each mini-competition is an opportunity to design a participatory process that is rigorous, inclusive, multilingual, and genuinely useful to EU policy-making.

In parallel, we will continue to grow our network, and we are always open to conversations with:

• Policy-makers and institutions considering deliberative or participatory processes
• Practitioners and facilitators across Europe who share our commitment to inclusive democracy
• Researchers and civic tech partners working at the frontier of participation

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A thank-you note

A heartfelt thank-you to Johan van der Meulen and the Austrian Society for Environment and Technology for the invitation to join this consortium, and to all our consortium partners for the trust, rigour, and collaborative spirit that made this application a success. Thank you also to the team at CollectiveUP who contributed technical references, documents, and countless hours to ensure our eligibility file met the Commission's high standards.

The real work, engaging citizens, shaping policy, and strengthening European democracy, starts now. And we could not be more excited to get started.

Interested in learning more about our work in participatory and deliberative democracy, or exploring a collaboration? Get in touch with CollectiveUP.