CitizenLab

CitizenLab is a Belgian civic tech company that builds citizen engagement platforms for local governments.[1] The company was founded in 2015 by Wietse Van Ransbeeck, Aline Muylaert, and Koen Gremmelprez. CitizenLab uses a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) model to provide local governments with readymade platforms and tools for collecting and managing citizen input.[2]

Not to be confused with Citizen Lab.
CitizenLab
TypeCivic Technology Companies
FoundedSeptember 2015
FounderWietse Van Ransbeek, Aline Muylaert, Koen Gremmelprez
Headquarters
Brussels
,
Belgium
ProductsCivic engagement platform
Number of employees
11-50
Websitewww.citizenlab.co

History

CitizenLab was founded in September 2015 in Brussels, Belgium by entrepreneurs Wietse Van Ransbeeck, Aline Muylaert, and Koen Gremmelprez. At the time, all three were students at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.[3]

CitizenLab states that it has provided citizen engagement platforms for over 400 local governments in 18 countries. These countries include Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, the United States, and Chile.[2][4]

Platform

The goal of the CitizenLab platform is to facilitate civic engagement through a two-way digital platform. The platform uses a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS).The front end of the CitizenLab platform has participation features such as participatory budgeting, survey and polling, idea collection and voting, and citizen initiatives. Features on the back end of the platform allows local governments to gather and manage citizen data and facilitate decision-making based on citizen feedback.

In the spring of 2019, CitizenLab raised two million euros in order to aid the company's expansion into international markets. [5] Investors include: Inventures and finance.brussels funds, the ING bank and the IT group Cipal-Schaubroeck.[6] In May 2019, CitizenLab took part in a Nesta experiment where six cities were sponsored to use the CitizenLab platform in order to explore whether technology can increase government efficiency and transparency.[7]

In March of 2021, CitizenLab announced on its blog that it would be shifting to an open source model.[8] Co-founder Wietse Van Ransbeeck attributed the decision to a desire to increase transparency and "[make their] platform accessible to all civic organizations — from universities and NGOs, to political parties and sports teams."[9]

Awards
  • VivaTech Paris, "Digital Inclusion" (2019)[10]
  • Wietse Van Ransbeeck & Aline Muylaert, listed as ‘50 Flemings of the Future' (2018)[11]
  • Aline Muylaert and Wietse Van Ransbeeck placed on Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Law and Policy (2018)[12]
  • Young Belgian Startup of the Year (2017)[13]
  • One of the 10 Radical Changemakers, Radio 1, De Standaard and De Sociale Innovatiefabriek (2017)[14]
  • One of the 5 Smart City Applications, Gartner (2017)[15]
  • Aline Muylaert (Head of Sales), One of the 10 final nominees for the StartHer Award (2018)[16]
  • Selected as one of the 5 Best Smart City startups worldwide, 4YFN at the Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona (2016)[17]

References
  1. Mihailescu, Tudor (Aug 23, 2018). "Meet The Under 30 Who Is Bringing Digital Democracy To European Cities". Forbes. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  2. "This Belgian startup brings civic engagement into the digital age: 4 things you need to know". May 20, 2019.
  3. Shaw, Dougal (July 7, 2021). "CEO Secrets: CitizenLab founder shares her business advice". BBC. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  4. "About Us". CitizenLab. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  5. "Brussels startup CitizenLab raises 2 million euros to scale its e-democracy platform across Europe". www.agoria.be. May 16, 2019.
  6. "Digitaal burgerplatform CitizenLab tankt vers kapitaal". De Tijd. May 16, 2019.
  7. "New grants to improve AI use in cities". Cities Today - Connecting the world's urban leaders. May 10, 2019.
  8. "CitizenLab Goes Open Source to Encourage Participation". Government Technology. April 12, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  9. Van Ransbeeck, Wietse (March 30, 2023). "Here's why we are going open source". CitizenLab. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  10. "La Métropole du Grand Paris à Vivatech". Affiches Parisiennes. 3 June 2019.
  11. "50 Vlamingen voor de toekomst". De Tijd. September 10, 2018.
  12. "CitizenLab". Forbes.
  13. Tibau, Frederik. "Small Teaser and UniFly are startup and scale-up of the year!". startups.be.
  14. Renson, Ine. "STEM! Wie is volgens u de Radicale Vernieuwer van 2017?". De Standaard.
  15. "Cool Vendors in Smart City Applications and Solutions, 2017". Gartner.
  16. "Apply now to the StartHer Awards!". 12 November 2022.
  17. "Brussels ondernemersduo van CitizenLab prijkt op Forbes' lijst van jonge beloftevolle vernieuwers". Site-Trends-NL. January 23, 2018.
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