Civic technology companies

Civic technology companies are platforms, products, and services that facilitate civic engagement.[1][2][3] Civic technology encompasses any type of technology that enables greater participation in government affairs, or "assists government in delivering citizen services and strengthening ties with the public".[4] The phrase can essentially be used to describe any company that is concerned with improving the quality, access, and efficiency of government services within the political system through technological means.[2] Although similar, Civic Technology is different from Government Technology.[5] Civic technology seeks to connect citizens with each other or with their government.[6] Government Technology primarily seeks to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of governments' internal operations.[5] Although the term can be used differently, Government Technology can also be classified as a subcategory within civic technology due to the indirect benefits citizens gain from government efficiency.[7]

Categories of these companies

Most current civic technology companies fall under a few categories. First is Government Technology,[8] which is technology used by nations to either increase the efficiency of their operations or to enhance their connection to citizens.[7] Another category is Advocacy, which is made up of civic technology companies used for political or social purposed by non-government groups.[7] The last main category is Voting, which encompasses companies that seek to improve voting systems.[7]

Civic technology companies
Platform Name Founder Party Affiliation Dates Created Open Source Corporate Structure
Gov Tech Jacqueline Poh[9] Not Affiliated 2016 Open Non-Profit
Bang the Table Matthew Crozier and Crispin Butteriss[10] Not Affiliated 2008 Open Non-Profit
City Innovate Kamran Saddique[11] Not Affiliated 2015 Open Non-Profit
Code for America Jennifer Pahlka[12] Not Affiliated 2009 Open Non-Profit
coUrbanize Karin Brandt[13] Not Affiliated 2013 Open Non-Profit
OpenGov Zachary Bookman[14] Not Affiliated 2012 Open Non-Profit
Accela Gary Kovacs[15] Not Affiliated 2018 Open For-Profit
CityBase Mike Duffy[16] Not Affiliated 2013 Open Non-Profit
MuniSight Greg Berger[17] Not Affiliated 2017 Open For-Profit
Nava Rohan Bhobe Not Affiliated 2015 Open Recently Non-Profit
Nextdoor Nirav Tolia, Sarah Leary, Prakash Janakiraman and David Wiesen[18] Not Affiliated 2008 Open Non-Profit
Fiscal Note Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen[19] Not Affiliated 2013 Open For-Profit
Maptionnaire Maarit Kahila, Annd Broberg[20] Not Affiliated 2011 Not For-Profit

Division of funding by company type

Data on investment provided for civic technology companies from 2011 to 2013 offers insight into the current landscape of these technology companies. Data collected by the Knight Foundation in this time period analyzed the difference in funding between Open Government and Community Action civic technology companies.[21] The Knight Foundation defines Open Government oriented companies as promoting citizen participation in government and Community Action companies as technology companies seeking to empower and unify citizens with a bottom-down approach.[21] Of investment in this time period, Community Action civic technology companies received more funds than Open Government oriented civic technology companies.[21] Within Community Action companies, Neighborhood Forums and P2P Local Sharing received most of the investment funds.[21] Within Open Government civic technology companies, Data Access & Transparency companies and Resident Feedback companies received the largest share of investments within the Open Government category.[21]

Illustration of 3 main sections of civic technology companies. Inspiration from Samsonowa&Partners infographic

Possible future directions for civic technology companies

As of 2021, various trends highlight the potential areas for growth civic technology can expand into. While many businesses assess data in real time, many governments lack the online infrastructure for this capability.[22] Civic technology could play a pivotal role in more robust and frequent government data collection for its citizens.[22] The gains of SpaceX highlighted the role private companies could play in developing technology for further space endeavors in coordination with the government.[23] Furthermore, governments' increasing reliance on technology such as drones and software for military units show potential for military-focused civic technology companies to work with Governments.[23] In the current landscape of civic technology companies, there remains potential for civic technology companies to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion for the community or communities they target.[24] Civic technology could also connect younger citizens with their government.[25] Specifically, since age groups under 30 primarily engage in their democracy through social media or other online platforms, online based civic technology companies could possibly increase engagement from these younger age groups.[25] Furthermore, issues ranging from increasing school violence to increasing local environmental preservation concerns could also create high demand for civic technology companies to address these issues.[26] Lastly, due to growing interest in and implementation of Participatory Budgeting and Citizens' Jury, there is greater demand and potential for civic technology companies that enable these practices on a massive scale.[27]

See also

References
  1. Rowley, Jason (12 October 2016). "Civic Tech Faces Uphill Battle In Work To Build A Better Government And Society". MatterMark. MatterMark. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  2. mheadd (16 April 2015). "Civic Tech: Days of Future Past". Civic.io. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  3. Civic Ninjas. "Twitter List of Companies in Knight Foundation's Report on Civic Tech". Civic Ninjas. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  4. Wood, Colin (15 August 2016). "What is Civic Tech?". Gov Tech. eRepublic. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  5. Europe, Wietse Van Ransbeeck Founder of CitizenLab On a mission to shape local democracies for the digital age Proud Forbes 30 Under 30; about #Brussels, YTILI Fellow Talk to me; #Europe; Tech, Civic; philosophy (2019-08-29). "What's the Difference Between "Civic Tech" and "GovTech"?". CitizenLab's Blog. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  6. "Exploring Civic Tech and Gov Tech - WeSolve". 20 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  7. Poppert, Derek (2021-05-07). "Navigating the field of civic tech". Tradecraft. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  8. "Government Technology", Wikipedia, 2022-10-04, retrieved 2022-10-05
  9. "About Us". GovTech. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  10. "Bang the Table – Participedia". participedia.net. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  11. "Team". www.cityinnovate.com. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  12. "Jennifer Pahlka". Code for America. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  13. Spanring, Christian. "coUrbanize | Press & Awards | Read about the work we're doing". coUrbanize. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  14. "About OpenGov - The Leader in Cloud Technology for Government". OpenGov. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  15. Gary, Kovacs. "Gary Kovacs Linkedin Page".
  16. John, Pletz (2019-07-10). "Tech 50 - Mike Duffy, 41". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  17. Falconer, Justin (2017-05-04). "Announcing MuniSight!". MuniSight. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  18. "Join Nextdoor, an app for neighborhoods where you can get local tips, buy and sell items, and more". nextdoor.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  19. "Global Policy and Market Intelligence". FiscalNote. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  20. "About Maptionnaire, Citizen Engagement Platform". Maptionnaire. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  21. "Knight Foundation: Trends in Civic Tech". www.knightfoundation.org. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  22. "5 tech trends that will transform governments". World Economic Forum. September 2015. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  23. Sullivan, Mark (2021-06-04). "Forget ad optimization: This VC wants to invest in startups working on real problems". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  24. "U.S. civic tech, ten years in: Building on progress to tap civic tech's full potential". luminategroup.com. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  25. food, Jenna Schroedel Marketing Intern at CitizenLab ~ Lover of all things; film; Away, Far (2020-10-09). "Trends for youth civic engagement: online, inclusive, and local". CitizenLab's Blog. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  26. "The Untapped Potential of Civic Technology". Giving Compass. 2019-01-22. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  27. "Visions of Government in 2040: The Future of Civic Engagement | IBM Center for The Business of Government". www.businessofgovernment.org. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
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