Danish Board of Technology Foundation - Teknologirådet, Denmark

The Danish Board of Technology Foundation is engaged to tasks and contribution concerning public matters that require knowledge of technology, values and wide spread action in society. DBT continues the former work of The Danish Board of Technology and adds more to this now as a non-profit trading foundation. In that way the DBT Foundation proceeds its’ counselling of decision-takers about possibilities and consequences for citizens, environment and society. DBT also intends to fill the task as international role model in developing of dialogue based and involving working methods. The DBT Foundation is active in the area of public challenges, technology, knowledge, values and action creating platforms for combining participants´ knowledge in the search of sustainable solutions crossing issues and subjects.

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a higher education and research organization established on 01/10/2009 as merger of Universität Karlsruhe, one of Germany’s leading research universities, and Forschungszentrum one of the largest research centres in the Helmholtz Association. The project work will be carried out by the Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), which is an institute of KIT. ITAS supports politics, science, business and the general public in future decision making. The institute applies and develops methods of technology assessment, systems analysis and technology foresight. ITAS carries out self-defined research work, as well as third party funded and contract research. In the parliamentary area, ITAS has been operating the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament (TAB) since 1990.

The Involve Foundation (Involve), United Kingdom

Since Involve was founded in 2004 they have worked closely with public organisations at a local, national and international level to transform how they engage with citizens. These include the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, the World Health Organisation, the European Commission, the OECD and numerous Local Authorities. Involve exists to support organisations, politicians and public officials to transform the way they engage with citizens. Involve are experts in public participation. They believe passionately in a democracy where citizens are able to take and influence the decisions that affect their lives. Through both research and practice they seek to radically transform the relationship between citizens and their governments to better use the creativity, energy, knowledge, skills and resources of all.

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (University of Groningen), Holland

Since 1979, the Science Shop at the University of Groningen brokers research requests from civil society organizations to students and staff. The Science Shop manages the research process and supports the joint definition of the research question and the communication of results. The research is mostly performed by students, who obtain credits (e.g. for their Master’s research) under Faculty supervision. The Science Shop facilitates the co-creation knowledge with civil society in many fields, through its five faculty offices. The Science Shop Groningen is a founding member of the Living Knowledge Network and active in European network projects; it currently coordinates the PERARES-project.

The Applied Research and Communications Fund, (ARC Fund), Bulgaria

ARC Fund was established in 1991 and today is one of the most influential Bulgarian NGOs active in the fields of innovation and knowledge economy. Its activities encourage competitiveness and growth of economies in the region through promotion of innovation and transfer of advanced technologies and know-how. ARC Fund provides technology brokering, innovation counseling, training and information services to over 5,000 clients, representing both leading high-tech industries (such as ICTs or biotech) and more traditional, but equally important industrial sectors such as transport, textiles, food or furniture production. ARC Fund is also engaged in policy-advisory work and cooperates closely with key government agencies and local authorities in Bulgaria in defining national, regional and sectoral research and innovation policies.

DIALOGIK Non-profit institute for communication and cooperation research, Germany

Employing mainly discursive methods of investigation, DIALOGIK conducts systematic research into communication processes and interactions between politics, economy and civil society. More specifically, DIALOGIK intends to analyse the conditions and prerequisites for improving purposeful communication (such as institutionalised risk communication as an instrument of health and environmental protection) and for developing and initiating innovative procedures of participation and cooperation (such as citizen panels or mediations in environmental conflict situations).