Civic Innovation Platform

AI is what we make it!

AI is what we make it! What do we mean by that? Good ideas, different fields of expertise, a variety of experience and, in particular, the shared desire to work together to advance our society – all of these aspects need to come together in order to make artificial intelligence ‘our’ AI.

In short, the Civic Innovation Platform is about one thing: realising good ideas together. Do you also want to use your AI technology to enable social advances? Then register and start your search for partners to implement your idea. On this platform, you will find like-minded people who want to collaborate to turn good ideas into reality.

The second round of the idea contest has started

Turn your idea into a joint project and take part in our idea contest together. If you're selected, you can win up to 20,000 euros. After all, one thing is certain: AI applications that focus on AI providing benefits for the common good require a wide spectrum of technical and social competences that must work together to bring about social progress. By combining technological, emotional, creative and social intelligence, we can make AI our own.

You can find out what you need in our idea contest call [PDF, 291 KB]. Interested? Register today – you’ll find more information in the community area.

Prepare to be inspired! See the winning ideas from the first round of the contest.

News and dates

- News
- Ideas competition
- Round 2
Submission deadline extended!
Friday 24. September 2021
Submit your idea for an AI providing benefits for the common good and win up to €20.000. We’re extending the submission deadline for the second round of our idea contest. Project drafts can still be submitted directly via our website until 07 October 2021.
Read more: Submission deadline extended!
- News
- Ideas competition
- Round 2
Idea contest – now we want your ideas!
Thursday 29. July 2021
Do you have an idea for utilising AI for the common good – or perhaps you already have a team together, with an idea that is just waiting to be developed further? Then submit your idea now for the second round of the competition directly on the platform.
Take part now!
- News
- Ideas competition
- Round 2
The idea contest is entering the second round
Thursday 10. June 2021
Do you have an idea for how artificial intelligence can be used to provide benefits for the common good? Then the Civic Innovation Platform is the place for you: take part in the new round of the idea contest and win a financial award of up to 20,000 euros!
Read more: The idea contest is entering the second round

News and dates

Current figures

Registered users
1046
Registered users
Project ideas
171
Project ideas
Agreed partnerships
151
Agreed partnerships

Latest project ideas

Project idea
Regle Deinen Kram – Mit aktiver Vorsorge vorausschauend und verantwortungsbewusst handeln!
28. September 2021
Mit Regle Deinen Kram möchten wir Menschen motivieren, durch das Ordnen von Papierkram Vorsorge-Themen selbstbestimmt anzugehen. Wir bieten Hilfe beim Strukturieren, Informieren und Loslegen - digital, leicht verständlich und handlungsorientiert!
Learn more
Project idea
Submitted - Round 2
Respeak – Powerful Dialogs for Better Relationships
27. September 2021
Weniger Fragen, mehr Antworten – unsere KI „Respeak“ nutzt kraftvolle Dialoge für eine bessere und nachhaltige Beziehungsentwicklung in einer digitalen Welt.
Learn more
Project idea
Nutzung intelligenter Technik als ergänzende Assistenz zum selbstbestimmten Wohnen von Menschen mit Behinderungen
24. September 2021
KI basierte Techniken und Anwendungen ergänzen personale Assistenzen für Menschen mit Behinderung und versetzen diese so in die Lage, selbstbestimmt in einer eigenen Wohnung zu leben. KI, der behinderte Mensch und sein Assistent entwickeln gemeinsam neue Assistenzmuster
Learn more

To the ideas market

How we support you

1. Find partners
Do you have an idea of how AI could be used to advance society? On the Civic Innovation Platform you can present your idea, leave your contact details for exchange with other like-minded people and find suitable partners pursuing interests similar to your own.
Register now!
2. Developing the basic idea together
As soon as two or more project partners come together, you can work together on your idea, write a basic project draft and prepare everything required for submission.
To the ideas market
3. Receive up to 20,000 euros
You can submit your project draft to the idea contest online. Once a year, up to thirty drafts are awarded up to 20,000 euros.
4. From draft to concept
If your idea was convincing, we will provide you with financial support and further assistance, such as through networking and workshops on topics like accessibility, data protection and communication. This will culminate in a mature concept that meets the main requirements for funding applications.
To the idea contest
5. Turn ideas into reality
In order to make sure that good ideas become reality, we support project collaborations that are conceptually more advanced with our project funding (expected to start from late summer 2021), also in the longer term.
To project funding

Frequently asked questions

On the one hand, we define ‘civic innovation’ as innovation processes where the driving impetus comes from within society and on the other hand, all innovations that aim to advance progress in society. The relevant social actors – from members of the public through associations and companies, all the way to organisations and institutions – contribute ideas and are systematically involved in the further process. The concept is based on sharing and exchange between different disciplines, sectors and areas, openly and on an equal footing with the aim of developing solutions that can be put into practice.
With the Civic Innovation Platform (CIP) project, the Policy Lab Digital, Work & Society within the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs studies how ideas for AI application that serve to enable societal and social progress can be effectively supported, from the idea through concept development, all the way to implementation and transfer.
The project is based on the German federal government's artificial intelligence strategy, in which the federal government undertakes to develop and deploy AI ‘responsibly and for the benefit of the common good’ and to embed it ‘in society on an ethical, legal, cultural and institutional basis within the basis of the framework of broad social dialogue and active policymaking (...)’. In this sense, the project aims to achieve broad acceptance in society and the design of technology for the benefit of the common good.
The Civic Innovation Platform (CIP) wants to make a contribution to bringing people together from different areas (business, science, administration, civil society), thereby enabling them to develop new solutions for addressing the challenges and needs of society. We want to create optimal framework conditions that allow good ideas to evolve into innovative projects. Our attention is primarily centred on artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of everyone. Alongside the potential for innovation, the focus is also on potential for collaboration: partners are supported in the joint development of ideas and project proposals for the use of AI technology for the common good and their transfer into practice through various types of funding as well as workshops and advice.
Funding is provided for AI technology innovations destined for the common good, such as machine learning or pattern recognition. Since the Civic Innovation Platform is a funding programme initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, proposals must have a clearly identifiable link to the Ministry’s activities. This includes aspects such as the future and quality of work, occupational safety, co-determination in companies, vocational training and further education, reintegration in the labour market, pensions, integration, inclusion, diversity and equal participation.

Display all questions

Our cooperation partners

Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland e.V.
Katrin Elsemann, Managing Director
"Our society is facing major upheavals. Climate change, demographic trends, urbanisation, the digitalisation of the working world and integration are just a few of these."
To the interview
German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
Oliver Suchy, Head of Digital Working Worlds and Working-World Reporting
"We hope that the Civic Innovation Platform will unleash new momentum making AI an even more fertile basis for good work and social inclusion."
To the interview
Prototype Fund
Adriana Groh, Director
"Funding for AI technology must aim to additionally promote developments with added social value in particular. Public funding for open-source software for the benefit of the common good of the type operated by the Prototype Fund renders civil society visible as a driver of innovation and an important partner."
To the interview
German AI Association
Daniel Abbou, Managing Director
"KI Bundesverband (the German AI Association) is very pleased to be involved in the Civic Innovation Platform as a partner. Artificial intelligence can unleash positive effects in many areas of society."
To the interview
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
Dr Matthias Peissner, Director at the Institute, Head of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit
"The technologies of artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning, harbour potential for radical change in nearly all parts of the economy and our lives. Ultimately, however, it always boils down to the question as to what contribution a technological innovation can make towards a better world. And AI can indeed!"
To the interview
Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsmanagement (KGSt)
Anika Krellmann, Organisation and Information Management Officer at KGSt
"Without people, AI is nothing more than a technology. We need innovations to improve living, working and general conditions in municipalities."
To the interview
© BDSV/Ziebe
Deutscher Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband e.V.
Andreas Bethke, Managing Director
"Digitalisation and artificial intelligence can take us a step forward on our path towards an inclusive society, provided that they are systematically designed and implemented on a barrier-free basis."
To the interview
Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e.V.
Alexandra Ortloff, Politics Team Leader
"AI is one of the key technologies of the future and is already playing an important role for start-ups today. As we see it, it is of crucial importance for this technology to be used for business models geared to the common good."
Learn more
© BAGFW/Dirk Hasskarl
Federal Association of Non-statutory Welfare (BAGFW)
Dr Gerhard Timm, Managing Director
"AI technologies will change our world profoundly over the coming years and decades. There are very alarming scenarios of a totalitarian state that uses AI to cement old relationships rooted in exploitation for the future. However, there are also scenarios in which these technologies are harnessed to advance humanist values."
Image: © BAGFW/Dirk Hasskarl
Learn more