Simon Strohmenger

Consul Democracy Stitching is a non-profit organization whose mission is to reinforce the quality, neutrality and credibility of citizen participation worldwide in democratic processes. It embodies the principles of democracy, independence, open source and free software, neutrality, transparency and rule of law.

To address low civic participation in Europe - particularly among underrepresented groups such as youth, migrants and low-income communities - the Consul Democracy Foundation will develop a free, open-source Civic Assistant powered by large language models (LLMs). This AI assistant will enhance the widely used Consul Democracy platform, already implemented by over 200 municipalities. This supports administrations in designing participatory processes that are accessible, inclusive and impactful.

Through features such as guided process design and AI-assisted proposal analysis, the assistant empowers governments to reach diverse groups effectively while reducing administrative workloads. Real-time translation and voice input further enhance accessibility for citizens.

Simon is the organization’s director and has been an Advisory Board Member since September 2020. He has a master’s in political science from the University of Munich.