On March 24, 2026, members of the Digitalization Working Group of the Städtetag NRW met at the Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration GmbH (ZenDiS) in Bochum. In addition to gaining insights into the development and significance of the location, participants focused primarily on questions of digital sovereignty.
CAIS researchers Prof. Tim A. Majchrzak, Scientific Director of CAIS, and Prof. Christoph Bieber, Head of the CAIS research program “Digital Democratic Innovations,” were invited to the exchange. They delivered an impulse lecture on the transformation of digital democratic discourses. In their presentation, they introduced CAIS research and demonstrated how the institute contributes to the field of digitalization and democracy. It became clear that digitalization is not merely a technical development but also a societal and democratic challenge. They highlighted both the opportunities and risks of digital processes and presented projects from the CAIS research program “Digital Democratic Innovations,” for example in the area of Smart Cities. In addition, they discussed research on addressing and managing misinformation. The lecture emphasized that democracy in the digital space can only succeed through dialogue, participation, and inclusion. Following the presentation, a discussion took place in which participants had the opportunity to ask questions.