Carla Hustedt’s Post

✨ 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲-𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 ✨ Over the course of the year, my team and I have developed an update to our strategy, which will guide our work at the Center for Digital Society at Stiftung Mercator GmbH until 2030. With so many shifts happening around us—politically and technically— it reflects our commitment to continuous learning, adapting to new realities while staying grounded in our values and long-term goals. Let me explain what that means.   𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 Our mission remains unchanged: To strengthen democratic rights and values within the context of the digital transformation. We will also continue focusing on two core areas: 📢 The digital public sphere – Strengthening pluralistic discourse and cohesion, limiting the spread of disinformation and hate 🏛️ The digital transformation of the state – Promoting participation, transparency, and effective service delivery 🪛 Our strategy is designed to tackle structural causes of risks and missed opportunities, rather than focusing on individual-level solutions. 🌈 As a funder of more than 30 organizations, we always look at issues from an ecosystem perspective. We consciously work with diverse patners—ranging from critical watchdogs to think tanks and academic institutions. 🪴 Our funding always includes support for organizational development and we have experimented with institutional funding over the last couple of years.   𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰? ♻️ In our new Action Area 2 "Embedding the public interest in the digital economy" we want to contribute to a reconsiliation of economic growth with fair competition, democracy, and fundamental rights, i.e. by enhancing the exchange between civil society, academia, and the private sector and by funding analyses on how to build and govern digital infrastructures in the public interest. 📰 In our Action Area 3 "Promoting Pluralistic Debate on Digitilisation" we aim to highlight the relevance of the digital transformation for democracy beyond expert circles and therefore incrasingly support organizations from other policy fields in taking a closer look at the digital transformation and by enabling media and journalism professionals to report on the societal impact of digital transformation in a nuanced and informed way. If you want to learn more, check out our website or reach out to my team and I (just look for the people with the "Battle of the Billionaire T-Shirts") David Alders, Lea Wulf, Oliver Bott, Elisabeth Nöfer A special Thanks goes to all of our partners, our fellow funders Catherine Miller, Vera Franz, Guillermo Beltrà as well as to our Senior Mercator-Fellows Francesca Bria and Felix Kartte for their support in the development of the strategy. https://lnkd.in/eHM3CP_S