From 18 to 20 May 2026, the Paris headquarters of Missions Publiques hosted partners of the ScaleDem Consortium for the project’s third General Assembly. Over three dynamic days, partners came together to reflect on progress, exchange ideas, and shape the next steps of the project.
The Assembly opened with the launch of the jury process for the Piloting Programme and Twinning Programme Open Calls. Both calls received an outstanding response, surpassing expectations and confirming the growing interest in democratic innovation initiatives across Europe and beyond.
The second day focused on collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Partners provided updates on ongoing project activities and engaged in in-depth discussions around the four dimensions of scaling democracy. Research teams presented emerging insights on How to scale high? (Dublin City University), How to scale deep? (European University Institute), How to scale out? (UCLouvain), and How to scale in? (UCLouvain and Missions Publiques), offering complementary perspectives on how democratic innovations can achieve lasting impact.
In the afternoon, partners joined a hands-on workshop led by Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) to further develop the Compass — a decision-support tool designed to help institutions, practitioners, and social changemakers navigate the challenges of scaling democratic innovations. Grounded in the ScaleDem framework, the Compass aims to provide practical, context-sensitive guidance to support the sustainable uptake of democratic innovations across different territories and governance levels.
The final day began with a second workshop facilitated by ICONS and GLOBSEC focused on strengthening the project’s dissemination and exploitation strategy. Discussions then turned to the activities of the Translation Hub, including The Resonance Space webinar series and the workshop series Bittersweet Lessons and Reversing the Gaze, which continue to create spaces for reflection, exchange, and mutual learning.
The third General Assembly marked an important milestone for the Consortium: three intense and inspiring days that strengthened collaboration, generated new ideas, and opened an exciting new phase for the ScaleDem project.