About Delib

Better decisions, stronger communities

We help government run democratic processes online

If you work in government (or a related organisation), we bring you tools that make it easy to involve citizens in decision making. People working in government have suffered too long with digital tools that aren't good enough. We're helping change that.

We help people give their views on decisions that affect them

For citizens (and we're all citizens), our goal is better public services and a healthy, functioning democracy. The relationship between those who govern and those who are governed is evolving. Our platforms make it easier for you to be involved in policy decisions and the design of public services.

We're small, lean and keen

We're not some huge business that makes excessive profits from government contracts.

There are about 25 of us, based around the world (Bristol and Edinburgh in the UK, Canberra in Australia and Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand).

We're a for-profit social venture, working for the triple goals of profit, people and planet.

We're lean because we want to be able to offer outstanding tools at prices that make sense for government, and because, well, waste makes no sense. Size hasn't limited what we can deliver: we've worked with government at the highest levels on projects that are high profile, but we're affordable for everyday use.

We started doing this in 2001. We didn’t invent digital democracy, but we’ve been around it for a long time.


Tools that work for citizens and public servants

One thing that's always mattered to us (and we think sets us apart) is that our brand of digital democracy is engaging both inside and outside the government building.

It takes two to do the democracy tango. Our platforms improve the interaction between government and citizens – for everyone.

A better way to do government software

Government and software procurement too often go together like strawberries and a hole in the head (like Fred Astaire and gingivitis? Like toothpaste and orange juice?). We're determined to make it a happier situation. We're passionate advocates of:

  • simple, fair pricing
  • agile methodologies
  • great support
  • making things easy to buy

Doing business right

Definitions are fiddly, but our ethos is probably closest to a social enterprise. We're an enterprise (we sell things – they're valuable) that does social good (profit at any cost is a false economy). We prize several principles in the way we operate:

  • politically neutral
  • not techno-utopian
  • being the change we want to see
  • contributing

Inspired by our customers

We constantly meet dedicated people working in government, with a deeply-felt public service ethos which we find inspiring.

Our tools have been co-designed and co-funded by our customers. We love seeing how they're used, and customers are constantly surprising us with inventive ways to use the tools and engage citizens on issues that matter.


Quotes like these make us happy

I really like the fact that people like me can be part of this. I have opinions and use services but this is the first time I have been asked what I think.

UK citizen taking part in a discussion via Dialogue

In going out and consulting about a budget which is a number, we heard stories about what people value and how they want to live their lives.

Brian Pincott, Councillor for Ward 11, City of Calgary, Canada

Citizen Space has transformed the way we are able to engage.

Peter Bradley, Head of Consultation, Transport For London, UK

Delib in numbers

500+

More than 500 government organisations around the world have used our tools.

75,000+

More than 75,000 consultations efficiently run by our customers using Citizen Space.

$80bn+

More than $80bn of budgets consulted on via Simulator.

100,000+

Over 100,000 ideas and comments in Dialogue


Podcast: a brief history of Delib

Delib founders Chris Quigley and Andy Parkhouse sat down with Delib director Ben Fowkes to lift the lid on the company's unusual background in political satire and involvement in some of the landmark moments in digital democracy history.

We want to have our platforms used by every democratically accountable organisation in the world, transforming – in small but significant ways – the lives of hundreds of millions of citizens.

Sound good?

Talk to us