With its innovative participatory budget initiative (Cologne PB), Cologne has put its money where its mouth is: in the interest of its citizens. The initiative enables citizens to participate in the preparation of the municipal budget. Thanks to an eParticipation internet platform, citizens can participate in planning the budget by submitting proposals, comments and assessments, and submitting votes for or against specific proposals. Not only has the City of Cologne decided to implement the best 300 ideas received in 2008/2009 (with the project to be extended in the coming years), but it has also allocated additional resources to the initiative.

Twelve successful years as the central eGovernment portal of Austria has made Help.gv.at into an effective, high-quality point of contact for citizens and entrepreneurs seeking advice. It functions as an inter-authority gateway enabling access to ministries, local administrations, etc. MyHELP offers a personalised version which allows citizens to see only topics and authorities relevant to their situation. An individually configurable version of MyHELP offers additional functions such as an information service on selected topics.

In a large, sparsely populated region such as Castilla y León, the 012 public service is an administrative information service which has led to enormous savings in time and money. With its improved accessibility to information and extensively automated multi-channel service (telephone, email, fax, etc.), it is undoubtedly of great use to citizens. Updated daily and staffed by locals, it also contributes to the community’s overall development. 012JCYL exports its content to many of the corporate portals in the region.

Looking for pre-schools, sports facilities and other public services can be time-consuming – and one is never sure of the comparative value of each. Stockholm’s web-based Service Map managed to change this. It provides residents with a single platform on which they can easily compare services, the level of existing user satisfaction and other requirements. They can also apply for available places. The application has successfully, and dramatically, cut the amount of time and energy spent by both citizens and the administration on assessing and providing services.

In shifting its attention to the interaction between citizens and public administrations, the C3Cat project focuses on the former’s right to receive and the latter’s duty to deliver the required services. C3Cat is an interactive approach and model for a solid organisational and operational structure. It came into being in 2005. Operating costs have been reduced by 50% since its implementation, contributing greatly to the development of new services and bringing all of society’s stakeholders together by raising accountability, transparency and citizen involvement.

CFRPA is an eDemocracy platform created to encourage active participation of citizens, local authorities, and associations. CFRPA facilitates inter-communication and debate.  It benefits the general public and civil society by actively engaging them in the development and approval of proposals through a user-friendly system. Citizens feel involved and part of a larger community. Public administrations can more closely monitor and tailor policies to meet the needs of the community.