Whether it’s a business, neighborhood, or sports club, to innovate and grow, it’s essential to know what’s going on. There are the usual ways to do that. Think of a factory tour, an extensive online survey, or the classic brainstorming session. Social media has also become popular to keep stakeholders informed and gather opinions.
“But Mark Zuckerberg’s algorithm is not aimed at making communities stronger,” Evelien Nieuwenburg emphasizes. She studied innovation science at TU/e, and together with Jorim Theuns, she founded Dembrane in 2023: a platform that seamlessly and efficiently extracts insights from structured dialogues. For this purpose, they developed their methodology. The tool allows organizations to collect and leverage their members’ knowledge. “We want to take participation to the next level. We do this through workshops, visualizing data, and smart deployment of digital elements,” explains Nieuwenburg.
Two thousand post-its, and then?
Through partners in the Brainport ecosystem – think The Gate, RoudnOne, Drinks, Pitches, and Demos – the startup got in touch with business partners and potential customers where it conducted pilots. For example, they helped the Municipality of Eindhoven and Helmond with a climate conference. A workshop – resulting in two thousand post-its – was digitized by Dembrane and linked to existing projects, making it clear to municipalities what citizens care about.
In our latest magazine – IO Next: Gerard & Anton Awards – you read about the 10 winners of the 10th edition of our own Awards Show. We look back at the 90 winners before them and look ahead to the impact these 100 winners together are making on the world.
Being constantly engaged in communicating an abstract vision in a field that has yet to develop is a significant challenge, says Nieuwenburg. “But, partly because of an increasing awareness of the value of participation to the community, the DemTech (Democratic Technology) sector will develop strongly. In five to 10 years, there will be more and more tools that make quality participation processes available to communities and organizations. The opportunities for Dembrane lie in the development of tools based on the intersection between high-tech, human-centered community thinking and collective superintelligence.
Increase involvement
Ultimately, the goal is for Dembrane to become a central point where a civil servant can look up what Eindhoven residents think about constructing bicycle highways, for example. But also where concerned citizens who want to contribute can see where their help is needed. “We want to add a dynamic piece of data that tells us something about people in smart cities. With the help of digital technologies, we make it clear what a community is struggling with and where the solutions lie,” Theuns clarifies.
“When people feel involved in their community, and their voices are heard, we all benefit. It leads to better decision-making and involvement and ultimately a better quality of life for everyone,” concludes Nieuwenburg.
The Gerard & Anton Awards are supported by EY, Rabobank, V.O. Patents & Trademarks, TWICE, Kadans Science Partner, Braventure, Lumo Labs, Gemeente Eindhoven, High Tech Campus, Philips, Goevaers & Znn. B.V. and DeepTechXL.
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