EPFL spin-off DemoSquare just launched its AI-based platform. In addition to presenting streamlined information on the Swiss public parliamentary record, DemoSquare aims to help companies and organizations anticipate the future of regulation. Set to expand to the EU level, the startup has already paying customers and is currently running a paid pilot with a large trade association.
Politics and political processes can sometimes seem complicated but knowing, and understanding, what goes on in the corridors of power is essential to any well-functioning democracy. DemoSquare, a new EPFL start-up that has emerged from the Information and Network Dyamics Lab (INDY) in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) just launched an AI-based platform that aims to make democratic and political data more transparent and accessible.
The tool gives users direct access to fifty years of Swiss legislative data on a user-friendly platform. It presents profiles of current parliamentarians, what they have voted for and how, the affairs they are submitting to parliament and their interest group connections, for example. It’s also possible to filter for information by topic, such as important votes like the CO2 law.
“From our previous research at EPFL we realized that it’s actually very difficult to understand what's happening in the corridors of the Federal Palace in Bern, to understand who is influencing who and who is saying what. We have had a lot of interest from journalists and NGOs to have access to the information that we are providing in a simple way,” said Victor Kristof, co-founder and CEO of DemoSquare. “This project really is to make this very complex process and hidden data accessible to the general public at any given time.”
In addition to presenting streamlined information on the public parliamentary record, DemoSquare aims to help companies and organizations anticipate the future of regulation. Businesses in most industries are impacted by regulation and public and regulatory affairs teams often monitor what is happening at a parliamentary and government level. AI-driven briefing, monitoring and strategy tools analyze the data generated to help companies anticipate the future of regulation.
“Our briefing tool captures everything that is related to a topic, our monitoring service gives clients the latest on upcoming votes and things like regulatory status changes and is really aimed at public affairs manages who need to have their fingers on the pulse. Our strategy service predicts the outcome of parliamentary votes using our Predikon algorithm,” explained Jérémie Rappaz, DemoSquare co-founder and CTO.
Next step: expanding to the EU level
DemoSquare has already five paying customers and is currently running a paid pilot with a large trade association.The team is working on several new tools that will be added to the platform over time and is also focused on expanding beyond its Swiss origins in 2024.
“Our plan is to expand to the EU level including the EU institutions - Parliament, Council, and Commission, because of course, all the regulations that come out of Brussels are tracked by basically everyone in the world. Many of our corporate customers in Switzerland are as interested in, and potentially impacted by, what's happening in Brussels as much as what's happening in Bern, so this is the next obvious step,” concluded Kristof.
Originally funded by an EPFL Innogrant DemoSquare left the INDY lab in July and is now based at the EPFL Innovation Park. To kickstart its launch, the team is partnering with Swiss media Le Temps and NZZ to provide real-time predictions and tracking for the Swiss federal elections on October 22.
(Press release - ES)
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