The Evens Foundation has announced funding for Digital Democracy Edinburgh 2027 and is offering ten people aged 29 or under €300 each to attend. Stipend applications close on Thursday 3 December 2026.
The conference revives mySociety’s The Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC), which ran for more than a decade, and combines it with the Digital Democracy conference held in The Hague last year. mySociety is organising the event at the Scottish Government’s invitation.
Digital Democracy Edinburgh is a collaboration between mySociety, the Scottish Government, the University of Edinburgh Futures Institute and the AI for Collective Intelligence Hub. The Evens Foundation, RadicalxChange and Delib are providing additional support. Around 200 practitioners, policymakers, technologists, researchers and activists are expected to attend.
Most of the Foundation’s funding goes to specific projects and networks. Its support for the conference reflects the need for a place where the field can review which tools work, which pilots fell short and what governments do with the results of citizens’ assemblies. The Foundation also supports the Political Tech Summit in Berlin, which takes place the week before.
Stipends for people early in their careers
The stipends are open to people aged 29 or under on 11 March 2027 who work on, study or want to learn about civic tech and digital democracy. They cover travel, accommodation or a conference ticket. Applicants do not need to belong to an organisation or be speaking at the conference.
The aim is to help young people from different places and backgrounds attend, at a stage in their careers when travel costs are rarely covered, and to bring new voices into democracy work.
Applications close on Thursday 3 December 2026 at 23:59 CET. All applicants will be notified by 11 December 2026.