Who are we?

Smartwielen is a project of the University of Luxembourg and the Zentrum fir politesch Bildung. The smartwielen website is an adapted version of smartvote, a so-called VAA (Voting Advice Application) that was first developed in Switzerland in 2003 and is operated by Politools. 

The University of Luxembourg is a public institution working in the fields of research and higher education. The university consists of three faculties and three interdisciplinary centres.  

The Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) covers a wide range of expertise in in the humanities, linguistics, cognitive, social and educational sciences. The Luxembourg Platform for Participatory Democracy (PLDP) was created within this faculty. The PLDP focuses its activities on three main areas:

1. Knowledge dissemination: PLDP aims to establish a national and international network around the challenges of participatory democracy in Luxembourg in order to create synergies with institutional and non-institutional actors interested in monitoring and developing participatory projects.
2. Cooperation on participatory projects: One of the central tasks of PLDP is to accompany and evaluate existing and future participatory projects from civil society and public institutions.
3. Research and training: PLDP aims to initiate and follow up research projects developed at - or in collaboration with - the University of Luxembourg in various disciplines. PLDP also aims to provide training for students and practitioners.

University of Luxembourg >

PLDP >

The “Zentrum fir politesch Bildung” (Centre for Citizenship Education, ZpB) is an independent foundation that promotes civic engagement by strengthening the understanding of politics, democracy and current societal challenges. Above all, it seeks to encourage young people to participate in political life and public discourse. Its work is based on three major pillars: 

1. Learn: The ZpB develops educational material and continuous trainings on current political and social issues as well as didactics. These are aimed at primary and secondary school teachers as well as child care and youth workers. 
2. Understand: The ZpB raises awareness about and strengthens the understanding of democratic processes and societal challenges through workshops, debates, conferences and expositions. Moreover, it provides books and other information material in a specialized library. 
3. Participate: The ZpB organizes competitions and other activities to increase the interest of young people in politics. It supports institutions in the formal and non-formal education sector in the process of setting up or strengthening democratic structures. 

Zentrum fir politesch Bildung >

smartvote is a Swiss Voting Advice Application (VAA) developed and run by the politically neutral, non-profit organization Politools. Politools is an interdisciplinary scientific network located in Bern, Switzerland, which operates internet-based projects to promote civic education and political transparency, and to provide political analysis. Since 2003, smartvote has informed voters in over 300 elections throughout Switzerland, Europe and Australia. 

Politools >
smartvote International >
smartvote Switzerland >

Zeilenwerk is an information technology company based in Bern, Switzerland, which focuses on the conception, architecture and development of sophisticated custom-made software and web applications. As the main IT partner of Politools, Zeilenwerk (formerly known as soom-it) has supported the development of the smartvote web platform since 2014.

Zeilenwerk >