Imagine a world where technology and democracy blend seamlessly to create vibrant, inclusive societies. This topic was at the centre of ConsulCon 2025 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where Participation Factory joined forces with civic tech innovators from around the globe. As we reflect on this incredible event, we’re excited to share the insights, innovations, and inspirations that are shaping the future of participatory democracy.
ConsulCon 2025: A Milestone for Participatory Democracy
ConsulCon 2025 marked a significant milestone in the journey of participatory democracy. Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Consul Democracy open-source project, this event brought together experts and practitioners to reflect on past achievements and look forward to future innovations.
The Consul Democracy Foundation, in collaboration with the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, organized this conference to connect an ever-developing community, exchange views, and explore new developments in digital citizen participation. Consul Democracy has been used by over 250 municipalities and organizations worldwide, including cities in Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, Germany, and more recently, Somalia and the Maldives.
In his presentation, Director of CONSUL DEMOCRACY Foundation Simon Strohmenger highlighted that Consul is entering a new stage, with plans to expand its network, strengthen its tech side, and intensify community building. This includes hiring a tech coordinator, working on AI assistance for better participation processes, and finding new regional partners and sponsors.
Global Perspectives on Democracy and Participation
The event showed that as we navigate multiple crises — political, technological, and climate — the importance of participatory democracy has never been more evident. Joan Subirats, Spanish political scientist and professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, emphasized that “democracy isn’t simple election of leaders but it’s about rights, dignity and participation of people.” However, he also highlighted that people often compromise democracy for efficiency and speed, underscoring that we need to increase the pace of finding new solutions and that we need to focus on better regulation of technology and co-developed solutions. Subirats stressed that “technology is not neutral,” and we must be aware of who benefits and who loses from its use, as well as the biases it can reflect and replicate.
This sentiment resonates with the broader global dialogue on democracy. Cities worldwide are embracing participatory tools to strengthen civic engagement. For instance, Patricia Marques dos Santos from Sao Paulo, Brazil, highlighted Consul’s role in improving social cohesion and overcoming information bubbles since 2020.
The notable examples of Consul being used for enhancing the state of democracy and introducing participatory methods include the following:
- Gran Canaria (Spain): Director General of Citizen Participation at the Cabildo de Gran Canaria Jorge Perez Artiles noted that since 2017, they have included five municipalities in their Consul setup but emphasized the need for processes to demonstrate technology’s potential “because for now we just have tech.”
- Montevideo (Uruguay): Maria Eugenia Decia, Data Analyst at the Intendencia of Montevideo, emphasized that “adaptability is key,” as since the use of Consul from 2018 showed that even though some things can be directly translated into the reality of a local community sometimes there was a need to adapt processes to ensure their relevance to Montevideo.
The Role of AI in Civic Engagement
With the current growth of AI it is not surprising that it is increasingly being integrated into participatory processes, offering opportunities such as supporting citizens in navigating complex government processes and expanding government capacities to consider citizens’ voices. Specific functionalities, as highlighted in the OECD research presented by Guilia Cibrario, include:
- Sense-making and data analysis
- Information curation and suggestions
- Translation and speech-to-text transliteration
- Visual assistance for people with disabilities
- Facilitation and moderation
- Simulation and future projections
However, challenges include ensuring trust, equity, and avoiding civil space erosion. In order to ensure effective, ethical, and relevant use of AI it is then recommended explaining AI well to citizens, training civil servants, and using AI to support processes without replacing people or just for the sake of using AI.
Participation Factory’s Engagement at ConsulCon 2025
Participation Factory actively contributed to ConsulCon 2025 by co-delivering a workshop on “Combining Digital and In-Person Methods for Inclusive Citizen Engagement” with Shout Out UK. Our International Director, Katya Petrikevich, presented insights on the state of civic tech in Europe and key points for successful hybrid design, emphasizing the importance of creating overall structure of the process before identifying digital interventions and aligning them with in-person components. Our partners from Shout Out UK also covered the use of existing online spaces for effective engagement and highlighted the need to use such unconventional spaces as Discours and Steam since this is where a lot of young people gather.
Looking Ahead
As we move forward from ConsulCon 2025, it’s clear that participatory democracy is at a crossroads. The integration of technology, particularly AI, holds immense potential but also poses significant challenges. The need for relevant frameworks and regulations as well as inclusive, community-structured processes that ensure participation and relevance of tech use is paramount.
At Participation Factory, we’re committed to advancing civic engagement and public participation. As we step into 2025, we’re excited to leverage AI and digital tools to make particiaptory initiatives more accessible and impactful. Our focus will remain on fostering participatory governance models, building capacity of governemnts, and ensuring that technology serves to strengthen democracy rather than undermine it.
Are you ready to launch your own digital engagement process and need help setting up a solid foundation? Contact us at info@participationfactory.com to discuss your needs and explore potential collaboration opportunities.