The Scottish Government's Digital Directorate's analysis of 31 digital participation platforms

Technologies to support citizen deliberation and participation form a growing market. This work has been commissioned to support the development of new technologies aimed at enhancing and scaling the use of the Scottish Government's Participation Framework for data governance. In this landscape review, we explore 31 of the most established players in the Civic Tech landscape for public engagement. For this purpose, we draw on the list of platforms included in the 2024 People Powered rankings. Our analysis is structured into four stages. Firstly, an analysis of the concrete technical features offered by these platforms. Secondly, an analysis of how these features are distributed across the engagement cycle. Thirdly, an analysis of the business models of Civic Techs for engagement. Finally, an exploratory analysis of the technical and ethical maturity of these platforms.