We fight for open knowledge and democratic participation by developing technologies and tools that strengthen civil society.
We explore the democratic potential of technology
Digital technologies create new opportunities for civil society: citizens can exercise their rights more easily and obtain better information about what governments are doing. To support fact-based political discourse, we develop software, provide infrastructure, and fund open source projects. We experiment as well as offer a space for experiments to others.
We promote open knowledge
In a democracy, open knowledge is a prerequisite for participation. We want to see a world in which knowledge is freely available both online and offline. This means that we not only use, but also share, further develop, and change the knowledge that we have. This allows us to create a community that everyone can participate in. To do so, we give talks, run initiatives, and research the impact of open data. What makes our work special is that we not only demand open knowledge, but demonstrate with our projects and campaigns how open knowledge can in fact strengthen a democracy.
We connect people who work on projects for an open and just society
Over the past seven years, we have built a community in Germany with thousands of volunteers. We support labs in more than 26 cities, organise conferences and hackathons, and connect representatives from politics and civil society to foster change.
We strengthen digital literacy and the ethical use of technology
Only those who understand technology can help shape it. This is why we offer workshops on a wide variety of topics such as data literacy, open data, and open education. We also develop individual educational concepts.
