Between October 2011 and 2015 a team of political experts, simulation and computer scientists will develop advanced ICT tools to support policy design and implementation. FUPOL is funded under the 7th framework program of the European Commission and undertaken by a consortium of 17 partners from Europe and China. Initially it is focused on local authorities and urban policy domains, but the techno
logies and innovations developed will be generic and could be used on any level and for any policy domain. Governments can gain a lot from using advanced ICT in designing policies and communicating through social web with citizens and businesses. FUPOL will provide them with innovative tools to shape the wealth of information coming from the Internet and other sources into policies. Political organizations and politicians, which will use this new technology, will have better means to serve public interests. Major innovations like multichannel social computing and crowd sourcing will change the way politicians communicate with citizens and enterprises and take decisions. The system will be able to automatically collect, analyze and interpret opinions expressed on a large scale from the Internet. This will enable governments to gain a better understanding of the needs of citizens. Likewise the software will have the capabilities to simulate the effects of policies and laws and to assist governments in the whole policy design process.
