On 01.02.2023, the "DFG Research Group" Future Digital Towns (FOR 5393) started its work. Initially funded for four years, the interdisciplinary research group investigates how medium-sized cities meet the challenges of digitalisation and develops digital tools to strengthen their liveability in the areas of "Civil Society & Social Services", "Administration & Politics", "Economy & Energy" and "Education & Culture". The research area "Administration & Politics" is being worked on at IfPol in cooperation with the Institute for Information Systems, with Prof. Kersting and Mathias Rusche focusing on the study of democratic innovations in medium-sized cities, such as municipal online participation platforms. Besides Prof. Kersting, PIs involved in the project include Prof. Jörg Becker (Head of FOR, Business Informatics WWU), Prof. Matthias Grundmann (Sociology WWU), Prof. Marcelo Parreira do Amaral (Educational Science WWU) and Prof. Andreas Löschel (Economics RUB).