How can new technologies transform democratic systems? A foresight workshop sought out answers

03/18/2026 Author: M. Pazour

How could technological developments affect the functioning of democracy in the coming decades? This was the central question addressed by the pilot foresight workshop “Technology and Democracy", organized by the Technology Centre Prague on March 13, 2026, as part of the international Eye of Europe project.

The workshop brought together citizens of different age groups who share an interest in technology and its impacts on society. The discussion thus offered a diverse range of perspectives – from younger generations growing up in a digital environment to older generations with life experience in a system with undemocratic institutions.

The workshop drew on specific foresight methodological tools developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, in particular the so-called “cards of potential future crises” and the “matrix of uncertainties and impacts”. The participants, divided into three groups, analysed key drivers of change, identified uncertainties and their potential impacts. The foresight tools enabled them to systematically examine their interconnections and identify potential chains of events. The result was three distinct scenarios for development up to 2050, which were based on the same initial assumptions but differed in their implications for democracy. In addition, each group supplemented its scenarios with a specific “one-person story” illustrating life in that future.

The practical exercise demonstrated how complex it is to consider the future of democratic systems in the context of technological change. At the same time, it confirmed the importance of a participatory approach, which allows for the connection of diverse perspectives and strengthens the legitimacy of the resulting outputs.

The workshop’s outputs will be shared on the European foresight community platform Futures4Europe (www.futures4europe.eu), which serves as a space for sharing projects, methodologies, and discussions about the future. This platform is also being developed as part of the Eye of Europe project, which aims to strengthen foresight capacities in Europe and promote its use in public policy-making.