Ahead of the 2021 federal election, Z2X (ZEIT ONLINE) and the Futurium, in cooperation with the German Federal Cultural Foundation, invited young visionaries, forward thinkers, engaged citizens, and political decision‑makers to explore and rethink the future of political work and participation — and to jointly imagine ideas for the democracy of tomorrow.

The project version21 consisted of four digital idea workshops, each followed by a thematically aligned panel discussion. While all four workshops focused on future perspectives of democracy, each one examined a specific aspect. The guiding question of every session encouraged participants to look ahead and think beyond conventional boundaries.

The results were presented during the subsequent panel discussions, where guests from politics and academia engaged with the ideas in real time. Supported by input from two experts, participants used the three‑hour workshop formats to collaboratively and openly develop practice‑oriented visions for a future democracy.

The goal of each idea workshop was to collaboratively develop tangible proposals for future political participation — ideas that later fed directly into the expert panel discussions. Throughout the process, participants exchanged experiences, emotions, and early solution approaches. Working in small groups, they gradually deepened their understanding of the core question before brainstorming ideas together and translating them into prototypes.

In designing the co‑creative workshop formats, we placed particular emphasis on creating methodological momentum to give innovative ideas the best possible conditions to emerge. To do this, we intentionally introduced moments of disruption and plot twists that turned familiar assumptions upside down. These shifts in perspective helped participants become aware of their own viewpoints and question them critically.

During the workshops, the two of us facilitated the three‑hour sessions through short inputs and team coaching. Our foundation was a set of co‑creative methods from Design Thinking (such as personas), complemented by approaches from trend analysis (such as the STEEP framework). The results were then presented by participants during the subsequent panel discussions with experts.

The workshop series demonstrates how short, impulse‑driven formats can be used to work in a focused and intensive way on socially relevant, pressing questions. A clearly defined methodological framework helped participants stay focused in their exchange and guided the dynamics of the process. The group’s confidence with digital tools made it easy to capture and share thoughts and ideas quickly — even beyond their immediate teams.

What makes this project special for us are the insights into how collaborative processes in digital spaces can gain real momentum when structure, tools, and participants complement one another.