When citizens move beyond simply taking part in research and instead become woven into the fabric of how research itself operates, the entire relationship between knowledge-making and society shifts. The Ars Electronica Festival 2026 will showcase this transformation as a blueprint for what citizen science can become.

Citizen science extends far beyond isolated experiments or one-off data collection efforts. Its true power lies in reshaping how science and society interact fundamentally. By gathering observations, collecting information, and bringing their own lived experience and community knowledge to the table, ordinary people strengthen scientific work. Partnering with professional researchers, they tackle concrete challenges facing their communities. In return, citizens gain exposure to research methodologies and collaborative practices, while scientists discover problems and opportunities that traditional academic channels might overlook. This creates a shared space where both groups can ask together: what questions will shape a stronger future? And crucially, who gets to decide what knowledge matters.

The RIECS Concept Lays a New Foundation

The RIECS Concept project, backed by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme, is building exactly this vision. Its premise is both straightforward and transformative: communities and their resources can function as research infrastructure in their own right. People already own the tools—smartphones, computers, homemade sensors—that generate valuable data. The project's goal is to link these distributed assets with institutional scientific resources like research databases and citizen science platforms. Between 2025 and 2027, thirteen partner institutions across eight countries are constructing the technical systems, social frameworks and organizational models needed to make this infrastructure real. Ars Electronica participates as a core partner. The effort goes beyond software architecture or research methods. Equally vital are questions about how to structure participation meaningfully and what role citizen science might play in shaping democratic life and social decisions. The Citizen Science Summit at Ars Electronica Festival 2026 marks a major milestone in this work.

Citizen Science Summit – A Workspace for the Future

On September 10 and 11, 2026, the JKU MED Campus in Linz will host researchers, institutional partners and RIECS consortium members for an intensive working summit. The agenda centers on moving into the project's next phase: What progress has been made? What do different groups—researchers, citizens, policymakers—actually require? How can these needs translate into an infrastructure that functions on the ground and earns the trust of the citizen science community? Through structured workshops and dialogue sessions, attendees will map out concrete priorities and pathways. The gathering brings together voices from academia, government, nonprofits, industry and grassroots practitioners. Rather than a traditional lecture-based conference, it functions as a collaborative laboratory for designing citizen science's future. Entry is by invitation and prior registration.

Town Hall Meeting – An Open Forum for Festival Visitors

On September 12, the conversation expands to the broader public through a Town Hall Meeting at OK Linz. EU-backed citizen science initiatives, academic experts, community leaders and the general public are welcome to attend (registration is encouraged). The central question driving the discussion is this: citizen science projects have repeatedly demonstrated their capacity to produce rigorous, publishable research. So what support systems would allow this work to flourish and grow across Europe over the long term? What should an infrastructure look like if it treats citizens as genuine collaborators rather than mere data sources?

Rethinking Research and Actively Shaping Its Future

This conversation builds on a thread Ars Electronica has woven through its festival programming over recent years. Citizen science serves as a testing ground for reimagining how people work together—and could become central to a research culture and democratic system that genuinely values the perspectives of those affected by research outcomes. Tomorrow's discoveries may emerge not only from traditional laboratories, universities and computing facilities, but from any place where communities observe, question, share knowledge and collaborate. Ars Electronica Festival 2026 provides another opportunity to advance this vision and help steer its development.

RIECS Concept receives funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101188210.

Source: Ars Electronica