More than just reducing bureaucracy: Seven projects for the public administration of tomorrow
To accompany its annual theme, “Understanding, Designing, and Changing Bureaucracy,” Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft is funding seven sandpit projects at German universities with up to 50,000€ each. The sandpit topics range from adaptive administrative systems and the digital codification of law to greater autonomy in the school system. They examine when bureaucracy provides protection, when it becomes a burden, and how it can be changed so that it better serves people, institutions, and societal needs.
“The funded sandpits show how diverse the ways of researching this topic can be and make clear that bureaucracy is not merely an administrative problem. It shapes our community in every respect, whether in schools, on construction sites, or in climate action. That is why its further development requires research that works across disciplines and takes practical questions seriously,” says Peter-André Alt, Spokesperson of the Management Board of Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft.
The call sought projects that move beyond established patterns of thinking and open up new perspectives on administration, regulation, and governance. Funding decisions were made through an anonymized review process. The criteria included innovative potential, originality, interdisciplinary orientation, societal relevance, application prospects, and the potential to serve as a basis for further projects.
These are the funded projects:
Law as Code / Deutsche Universität für Verwaltungswissenschaften Speyer
The project examines how laws can be translated into digital rules (“Law as Code”) in order to make public administration more efficient without weakening constitutional safeguards. At the same time, it explores where automation reaches its limits, for example in individual case assessment, proportionality, or human oversight. The aim is to develop guidelines, assessment criteria, and concrete project ideas so that “Law as Code” can reduce bureaucracy without putting fundamental rights and fairness at risk.
Reprogramming Bureaucracy / Technische Universität Berlin
How can public administration be reliable, adaptable, and innovation-friendly at the same time? In a collaborative design experiment, the participants in this sandpit aim to develop new bureaucratic governance models and a toolkit for flexible administration. The project is based on the premise that administrations are dynamic systems that can be piloted, tested, and continuously improved like software.
Unleashing Schools / Heidelberg University
Schools are under growing pressure to document and account for their work. This sandpit project aims to develop models that give individual schools greater room to act. Reporting obligations should be significantly reduced, responsibilities defined more clearly, and data used more effectively—without weakening legal safeguards. The goal is to better connect school supervision, administration, and individual schools, thereby improving everyday school life.
Bureaucracy for the Built Environment / Technical University of Darmstadt
The Darmstadt project focuses on bureaucracy in the construction sector and asks how document-based administrative procedures can be transformed into an AI-supported ecosystem. A particularly important issue is the “accountability gap,” the gap between technological innovation and legal liability. The sandpit brings together civil engineering, law, and computer science and aims to develop guidelines for safe human-machine systems in construction.
From Climate Metrics to Paperwork / Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
Why is calculating the carbon footprint of products so complex? In this sandpit, participants will calculate the same product carbon footprint once using clear standards and once with greater room for interpretation. This is intended to reveal where different assumptions lead to divergent results, more documentation, and higher costs. The aim is to develop simpler, more reliable rules for transparent climate reporting.
Bureaucratic Authority Beyond the State / University of Bayreuth
Where is bureaucratic authority located, how is it materially assembled, and how is legitimacy produced? To answer these questions, the participants focus on religious organizations and how they establish authority. In doing so, the project aims to question theories of bureaucracy that are centered on the state and to sharpen tools for analyzing administrative power in different institutional and geopolitical contexts.
The Office as a Social Institution / University of Hamburg
This project places the public office at the center of inquiry—not merely as an organizational unit or legal form, but as a social institution that depends on rules, practices, trust, technologies, and symbols. The sandpit will examine what constitutes an office, how it produces authority, and which normative, social, technological, aesthetic, and historical resources shape its work. The aim is to develop a new understanding of what public offices contribute to everyday social life.
Sandpits are three-day, interdisciplinary idea labs that bring together researchers and practitioners to develop new questions and devise viable approaches for follow-up projects. The foundation sets an overarching theme but does not impose any further requirements.
About the Foundation
Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft, a private grant-making foundation based in Berlin, works to strengthen Germany’s position as a center for science and research. It supports top international researchers and helps universities make strategic appointments. Its funding programs increase the international visibility and competitiveness of German universities.
