CitizenLab raises 2.1 million euros to develop its e-democracy platform across Europe
Official communications – 15 May 2019 CitizenLab has just raised 2 million euros to accelerate the international roll-out of its citizen participation platform. These new funds will fuel the company’s...
Our 5 take-aways from #govtech talks at Impact2019
Did you make it to the Impact conference? This annual event is about innovation and digital economy, with conversations about the future of health, finance, education, space… and of course governments....
Renewing European democracy in a digital world
The 21th Century and the Information Age have changed our lives. We are now more connected than ever before. People sharing the same ideas but living worlds apart can suddenly be in touch. We can now raise our...
How to increase engagement on a participation platform
The launch of a participation platform can have a decisive influence on the rest of the project, but it’s often overlooked for lack of time or resources. In order to reach as many citizens as possible and...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #13
Welcome, civic tech and democracy enthusiasts! It’s Friday and you know what that means — we’re back with the weekly reading list that’ll brighten up your day. This week, we’ll talk about citizen engagement, AI,...
One tool, multiple possibilities: three examples of participatory budgets
These past few months, participatory budgets have been the talk of the town(s). It would however be a mistake to disregard them as a fad – they’re in fact powerful tools used to make public governance...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #12
It’s Friday again, and we’ve got a fresh catch of democracy, civic tech and smart city news ready for you! As you know (unless you’re new here, in which case: hi!), we craft a new selection of...
What’s the difference between deliberative and participatory democracy?
Deliberative and participatory democracy seem to be pretty similar. And they are, in ways: both are democratic systems that give citizens a role in governance. In both deliberative and participatory democracies,...
Applying artificial intelligence to citizen participation: the Youth4Climate case study.
Youth for Climate used CitizenLab’s NLP technology to turn thousands of citizen contributions into concise and actionable insights. Here’s what we learned from analysing over 1,700 ideas. On August 20, a 15 year...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #11
Happy Friday, dear readers! May your mood be breezy, your colleagues well-rested and your coffee steaming hot. To make this Friday even more blissful, we’ve gathered the most interesting civic tech, govtech...
The human factor: helping governments tap into collective intelligence
Can natural language processing and machine learning technologies foster quicker political response to citizen views on digital democracy platforms? With the Nesta Collective Intelligence Grants Programme, this is...
Natural Language Processing at CitizenLab: how machine learning can transform citizen engagement projects.
This article has been written in close collaboration with the NLP experts at NLP Town, who supported us through our own NLP journey. Will robots take over the world? Probably not. However, NLP (or Natural Language...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #10
This Friday, we’ve got even more reason to celebrate than usual. Not only is the weekend rolling around and is your beloved Reads of the Week selection in your inbox, but it’s our TENTH edition! A true...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #9
The weekend is right around the corner, and that’s always a reason to be in a good mood. Well, let us add a little more joy to your day, because it’s time for our Reads of the Week! Every week, we hand-pick...
8 Steps to Effective Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgets are a powerful tool for inclusive and accountable governance. They allow cities and towns to educate, engage, and empower their citizens along with strengthening their governance. This blog...
8 Civic Tech Newsletters to Keep Up With
If finding sizzling civic tech news online is silver, getting it sent directly to your inbox is definitely gold. Long live the civic tech thought-leaders that gather everything there is to know in the field, then...
Offline vs. Online participation: A Case Study of Mol & Temse
Citizen participation may be hot and happening right now, but it’s not a new phenomenon. Besides heading to the ballot box every few years, citizens have been showing up to town hall gatherings or collecting...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #8
If you’re reading this, that means the weekend is almost here! Let’s dive right in, because like every week, we’ve hand-picked the hottest civic tech news for you. 1. “How Civic Tech can steer development and...
4 reasons why digital participation is easier than you think.
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re probably already convinced that citizen participation is a good thing. However, what you might not be so convinced about is that involving citizens in decision-making...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #7
What time is it? It’s not summertime quite yet, but something even better: time for our Reads of The Week! Every Friday, we share our weekly selection of interesting civic tech reads. If you missed some of our...
What is the Difference between Citizen Engagement and Participation?
Over the last few years, there’s been a shift from top-down governance to more horizontally organised types of government. This new political current includes all the stakeholders of public policy projects,...
What’s the Difference Between “Civic Tech” and “GovTech”?
Civic Tech and GovTech—“Potato, potato”, I can hear you thinking. Although many amongst us use the term interchangeably, there are important differences between both. This article sheds a light upon the existing...
Civic tech reads of the week #6
Friday’s here! Another week has flown by, and more sizzling civic tech news has rolled off the (digital) presses. And that means it’s time for our selection of the hottest civic tech reads of the week! In our list...
How to choose the right participation method
Survey, idea gathering, participatory budget… when launching a citizen participation project, there are many options to choose from. A survey will yield different answers and reach different audiences than a...
Our 7 key takeaways from TICTec 2019
We came, we listened, we learned : here are our 7 key take-aways from the TICTec conference . TICTec, the conference focusing on Civic technology and digital democracy, is now in its 5th edition. We attended the...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #5
It’s that time of the week again! Spend your Friday productively by diving into the depths of civic tech with us. And we’ve got quite the selection this week, ranging from the French gilets jaunes to the nature of...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #4
A special birthday, a computer game and great news for our hearts — we’ve got a really interesting selection of must-reads for you this week! You know the drill by now: Friday stands for compelling and...
Case Study: citizen participation in Kortrijk
Kortrijk, the Flemish city known for its textiles, medieval bravery and mayor Vincent van Quickenborne, kicked off its citizen participation project with ambitious plans. The West-Flemish town aims to become...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #3
Another week has flown by and we’re back with our famous — we’re famous by now, aren’t we? — weekly list of must-reads! It’s time for your favourite updates from the world of digital participation, and this...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #2
It’s Friday again! And you know what that means: we’ve made another selection of this week’s must-reads in the realm of digital democracy and civic tech. If you missed last week’s selection, there’s plenty of...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #1
It’s Friday afternoon and — just making assumptions here — we bet you’re almost ready to leave the office. But don’t drop everything just yet, because we’ve gathered our favourite civic tech reads to wrap up...
![6 Must-Attend Upcoming Smart City Events [2019 Update]](https://www.citizenlab.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Screen-Shot-2019-02-14-at-16.06.32_32-500x293.jpg)
6 Must-Attend Upcoming Smart City Events [2019 Update]
Are you fascinated by the concept of Smart Cities, or are you an expert in the field? Every year, there are hundreds of interesting Smart City events across the globe, allowing you to network and connect with...
FREE DOWNLOAD: The Beginner’s Guide To Digital Participation
Innovation and new technologies are changing the way governments foster participation and connect with their citizens. Citizens today have the whole world at their fingertips, and it has made them more empowered...
10 Easy ways to be a more engaged citizen
If you clicked this article and started reading, chances are you have the intention of being an engaged citizen and leaving a mark on your local community. But you probably feel it, too: it’s so easy to get...
Case Study: Grand Paris Sud and its triple mission
Grand Paris Sud (346.826 inhabitants), an inter-communal structure south of Paris, decided to pull up its sleeves and work towards progress. In the spirit of democracy, they chose to seek the opinions of those who...
‘Slacktivism’: Legitimate Action or Just Lazy Liking?
It sounds like a contradictio in terminis, like ‘sound of silence’ or ‘sensible Trump tweet.’ But ‘slacktivism’, a contraction of ‘activism’ and uh, ‘slacking’, has become a widespread phenomenon that urges us...
