European Digital Deal Summit

European Digital Deal is a three-year investigation co-funded by Creative Europe into how the accelerated, yet at times unconsidered adoption of new technologies – such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and algorithmic processing – can alter or undermine democratic processes.

This new kind of public forum is embedded in the annual Ars Electronica Festival, gathered facilitators and experts for a series of three-day workshops, focusing on the trust necessary for future technological societies and assisting in the formulation of themes for 12 residency projects. While the demands of work limited the exploration of the arts festival, it fostered my deep connections within the international industry community. Proud of the atmosphere and outcomes of our group’s discussions, I feel honored as the only invited member representing both the open-source decentralized community and Asia.

With consent from organizers and fellow groups, I infused activism and the spirit of plurality into the workshop agenda and props’ redesign, incorporating deconstructive, critical questions, and case references from Taiwan/Asia. During the event, experts from other groups approached me, expressing that our workshop design and overall state resonated closely with the forum’s objectives upon hearing our group experts’ participation narratives. I believe it illustrates the distinction between service and strategy design versus activity facilitation and to some extent showcases Taiwan’s experience on cocreating a resilient and decentralized civil society.

Challenge

Guiding a predominantly male, Eurocentric expert group through limited workshop time, addressing potential biases wisely such as assumed shared knowledge and homogenous perspectives.

Strategy

By initiating discussions from personal experiences and gradually layering conceptual depth, I carefully deconstruct multiple complex themes while co-create a safe space with the experts. Instead of directly employing specialized terminology, topics are approached progressively—from individual openness towards public data-sharing to broader implications in deliberative democracy, informed consent, and open-source cultures. Critically distancing from majority voting, the strategy actively cultivates empathy-driven, deep cooperation among diverse experts, reconnecting individuals with genuine dialogue and fostering authentic consensus beyond superficial agreements, thus addressing the democratic deficits inherent in conventional decision-making methods.

Impact

Following our group’s presentation, I engaged in fruitful discussions with several EDDS partner organization on-site, arranging two follow-up video calls and interviews. These sessions involved discussions with industry experts who have been involved in e-democracy nonprofit networks for over two decades, as well as the inaugural Austrian diplomat to Silicon Valley, exploring potential collaborations with Taiwan. The following year, I was invited by Ars Electronica two years in a roll to serve as an international advisor for the S+T+ARTS (Science, Technology, and Arts) Prize, bringing an Asian perspective to the forefront.

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Overall, it gained me some reflections toward Taiwan’s experience on implementing deliberative democracy as well as tackling issues of geopolitical identity in the global tech societies, includes:

Taiwan has created highly skilled and cost-effective engineers, some turned their attention to build the civic tech and DX of public services bcuz many companies in TW make no room for their talents. This open playground somehow leads to a highly autonomous civic tech community.

Although algorithms homogenize same ideologies in cyber space, Taiwan's traits of small size with dense population, emphasis on interpersonal relationships, and diverse ethnic composition promote plural conversation. This creates a physical environment for digital democracy.

Due to Taiwan's marginalized political status, Taiwan's young democracy has made strides in digital democracy, driven by the strong desire of the younger and middle-aged generation for cross-regional and interconnected identities/agencies.

Owning to political conflicts, Taiwan aims to build a  more resilient civil communities while engage in non-traditional cooperation with global democratic alliances. Expectations are high for Taiwan's success in this endeavor.

Taiwan Ministry Of Digital Affairs’ use of procurement to include Dark Matter Labs, DAOs of Taiwan, da0 and their global web3 network, this open PPP model has gained it international attentions while accelerated the movement towards constructing a dDigital Public Infrastructure in and beyond TW.

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