Imagine your city wants to improve a park or rethink a bus route, but instead of officials deciding alone, residents pitch ideas, vote on them, and help manage the results — all through a phone app. CO3 built a toolkit combining augmented reality (think Pokémon Go but for city planning), blockchain for transparent voting, and game-like features to keep people engaged. They tested it in three European cities — Turin, Athens, and Paris — to see whether giving citizens real decision-making power over public services actually works at scale.
By the numbers
3
European cities used as pilot sites (Turin, Athens, Paris)
12
consortium partners across 5 countries
EUR 3,281,712
EU funding for development and piloting
3
iterative prototype releases with progressive enhancements
28
total project deliverables produced
4
SMEs in the consortium including blockchain and AR specialists
3
evaluation dimensions: social/cultural, economic, and legal
The business problem
What needed solving
Cities invest heavily in public services that citizens neither requested nor feel ownership of, resulting in low adoption, public frustration, and wasted budgets. Traditional participation methods — town halls, surveys, comment periods — reach a tiny fraction of residents and often feel performative rather than meaningful. Municipalities need digital tools that give citizens genuine co-creation and decision-making power while keeping the process transparent, auditable, and legally compliant.
The solution
What was built
CO3 built and released three progressive iterations of an open-source mobile app ecosystem integrating blockchain-based transparent voting, augmented reality overlays for urban spaces, liquid democracy decision-making tools, and gamification features. The final release was published under permissive open-source licenses (MIT/X11 or BSD 3-clause) and was validated across 3 pilot cities, with 28 total deliverables covering technology, evaluation metrics, and sustainability planning.
Audience
Who needs this
European municipalities and city authorities digitizing citizen participationGovTech and civic technology companies building engagement platformsSmart city consultancies advising on digital transformationPublic utility companies seeking structured citizen feedback mechanismsUrban planning firms integrating participatory design into their workflows
Business applications
Who can put this to work
Municipal Government & Smart Cities
enterprise
Target: European municipalities or city authorities seeking digital citizen engagement
If you are a city government struggling with low citizen participation in public service design — CO3 developed an open-source mobile app combining blockchain voting, augmented reality, and gamification that was piloted across 3 European cities with 12 consortium partners. The toolkit lets residents co-create and co-manage services through their phones, with tamper-proof records of every decision.
Civic Technology & GovTech
SME
Target: GovTech startups or civic engagement platform companies
If you are a civic tech company building citizen participation tools and need proven, production-tested components — CO3 released its full technology stack under open-source MIT/X11 or BSD 3-clause licenses. The platform integrates blockchain, liquid democracy, AR, and gamification modules that were refined through 3 iterative releases and tested with real municipal workflows across 5 countries.
Urban Planning & Consulting
mid-size
Target: Urban planning consultancies or smart city integrators
If you are a consultancy advising cities on digital transformation and need battle-tested engagement tools — CO3's ecosystem was validated in 3 pilot sites across different governance cultures (Italy, Greece, France) with evaluation across social, economic, and legal dimensions. The 28 project deliverables include implementation guides and assessment metrics you can use with your own municipal clients.
Frequently asked
Quick answers
What would it cost to deploy this technology?+
The CO3 toolkit was released under permissive open-source licenses (MIT/X11 or BSD 3-clause), so there are no licensing fees for the software itself. Deployment costs would involve integration, customization, and hosting. The original project was developed with EUR 3,281,712 in EU funding across 12 partners over 3 years.
Can this scale beyond pilot cities to larger deployments?+
CO3 was piloted in 3 diverse European cities — Turin, Athens, and the Plaine Commune in Paris — across different governance models and languages. The modular architecture (blockchain, AR, liquid democracy, gamification as separate components) suggests it can be adapted to different city sizes and contexts. The project also devised a business plan for long-term sustainability for public administrations.
What is the IP and licensing situation?+
The project explicitly states that joint work created during CO3 was published under permissive open-source licenses — MIT/X11 or BSD 3-clause. This means any organization can use, modify, and distribute the code freely, including for commercial purposes, with minimal restrictions.
How mature is the technology — is it ready to deploy?+
CO3 went through 3 iterative prototype releases, with the final release incorporating enhancements from real pilot testing. The technology was tested with actual citizens and municipal staff across 3 cities over a 3-year period. Based on available project data, it reached operational validation in real municipal environments.
What about data privacy and legal compliance?+
The project explicitly evaluated legal implications for public administrations, including privacy and data protection, as one of its 3 assessment dimensions. The blockchain component provides transparency and auditability. Based on available project data, GDPR considerations were part of the evaluation framework given the EU context.
Can this integrate with existing municipal IT systems?+
The architecture was designed as a modular ecosystem — blockchain, augmented reality, geolocated social network, liquid democracy, and gamification components interact through a mobile app. The open-source licensing and modular design suggest integration is feasible, though specific API documentation would need to be reviewed from the 28 project deliverables.
Consortium
Who built it
The consortium of 12 partners across 5 countries (Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy) is well-structured for civic technology deployment, with a 42% industry ratio including 4 SMEs. The technology backbone comes from specialized companies: Brainbot (leaders in Ethereum blockchain development, Germany), FlexiGuided (creators of LiquidFeedback for liquid democracy, Germany), and Geomotion (augmented reality and location-based tech, Spain). Three real municipalities — Turin, Athens, and the Plaine Commune in Paris — served as pilot sites, providing validation across distinctly different governance cultures. The University of Turin coordinated the project, bringing computer science, economics, sociology, and law expertise. With 5 industry players, 2 universities, 3 research centers, and 2 other organizations, the mix was designed to ensure both technical depth and real-world deployment capability.
Contact SciTransfer to get connected with the CO3 team and explore how their open-source civic engagement toolkit can be adapted for your city or organization.
