CiviQ has been working with local authorities, government departments, public, semi-state and private organisations in Ireland since 2015 and 2016 in the UK. We are based in Kildare, Ireland and have a wide range of experience in all types of online public consultations as well as expertise in managing consultations and innovating in new approaches to understanding public opinion.

CiviQ started in 2012 with research into how public engagement in Ireland could be more inclusive and deliberative. The Founders published a paper published in the international journal Policy and Internet: ‘Bridging Normative Democratic Theory and Internet Technologies: A Proposal for Scaling Citizen Policy Deliberations’(2013) where the SOWIT model was outlined (Social Web for Inclusive and Transparent Democracy). CiviQ was set up to deliver this inclusive model of which OpenConsult is the first part of the broader deliberative innovation framework.

The key aims of OpenConsult are to build community connection around consultations in a way that promotes knowledge sharing, a positive experience, and a means to stay engaged and up-to-date on current and future issues for public engagement. To this end, OpenConsult is built on an open data framework, with a broad set of communication and notification features. Our reporting methods focus on the ability to demonstrate to communities that their input was heard and considered during the engagement process with templates for such reporting, and individualized reports per respondent also provided.