Scaling Grounds

Democratic innovations often remain isolated, small or short-lived due to bureaucratic hurdles, limited resources and public scepticism.

Across Europe, several initiatives have real potential but need support to scale.

Our Scaling Grounds – piloting and twinning programmes – are designed to provide that support.

Scaling democratic innovations becomes possible only when the right conditions are in place.

ScaleDem helps create those conditions. Through our programmes we support organisations as they test, adapt and scale citizens’ assemblies, participatory processes, civic tech tools and other democratic innovations in real contexts.

Each programme has a duration of 12 months and combines funding, expert guidance and a European peer network, addressing one or more of the four scaling dimensions set out in our Theory of Scaling:

  • Scale Out

    How can a democratic innovation reach more people and places?

  • Scale In

    How can it strengthen its internal capacities and quality?

  • Scale High

    How can it gain political or institutional support? 

  • Scale Deep

    How can it draw on local cultural contexts and collective practices that encourage citizen participation and engagement to take root?

In October 2026, 13 initiatives involving more than 30 organisations started their programmes.

Meet the pathbreakers

PILOTING PROGRAMME

An action-focused programme that supports organisations testing bold new ways to scale their democratic innovations. Each pilot receives mentoring from ScaleDem experts and the chance to learn alongside a cohort of pilot teams facing similar scaling challenges. Five pilot projects are taking part in the programme.

Learn more

Meet the pioneers

TWINNING PROGRAMME

A support and coaching programme that brings together organisations that have already scaled a democratic innovation with others seeking to adapt it to their own context. In each twinning community, one mentor works with up to four mentees to co-design and test concrete scaling actions. Eight twinning communities are taking part in the programme.

Learn more

What participants learn feeds back into ScaleDem’s research, building evidence on what helps democratic innovations reach more people, gain institutional support and take root in local cultures.

Curious how participants were selected?

In December 2025, ScaleDem launched two open calls for organisations seeking to expand their impact.

By the 31 March 2026 deadline, we had received more than 700 applications.

That tells us how much energy there is for strengthening democracy, and how many people are looking for ways to make their work last and travel further.

Read about the open calls