Democratic Technology is an innovation in society, education, governance and political engagement because:

1. It provides real, verified users in countries, structured real time engagement of politicians and government, and current news and events of the day in real time.
2. It empowers one-on-one contact with politicians on their smartphone/personal devices without third party filters: providing speed of access, convenience and the prevention of miscommunication and misdirection.
3. It presents Big Data 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, on what people want and where government and politicians stand. The Open Data is easily accessible to everyone, unlike commissioned polls.
4. In addition to being a citizen engagement tool, iMatr is also an educational device that teaches young people about different government systems and local, national and world issues.
5. It is a place where All Voices Meet to provide structured, controlled and productive dialogue between members of societies.

As of the date of this submission, iMatr DT has completed its first pilots, in both the democratic and educational arenas.

It has been used and tested in the Canadian 2021 Federal election, the Ontario 2022 Provincial election and is currently deployed and being tested in the 2022 Ontario Municipal elections.
It has also been piloted in various levels of curriculum in elementary, high school and college settings; demonstrating new principles of dynamic interactive learning, in real time, within government and democratic structures.

Currently, we are analyzing user experiences using a mixed methods approach, studying data from our database, conducting user experience interviews and are undergoing branding and marketing improvements.

Our pilot experiences have led to new software and hardware developments, together with the formulation of a deployment template for new countries. iMatr is currently modifying its technology to enter the Australian, and New Zealand markets for 2023.

Our pilots involved collaboration by the public with officials, elected representatives and election candidates at 4 levels of government in Canada. These participants tested the technology in real time in national, provincial, regional and municipal elections. Educators in elementary, secondary and post-secondary institutions, together with students, interacted within curriculums, with societal issues and politicians to learn about and participate in governance and global citizen education.

Citizen users benefitted by gaining unprecedented access to politicians using their persona devices. They gained knowledge of who represents them and what they stand for. At the same time, citizens felt like they mattered and were being heard, with digital evidence. Government gained valuable Open Data on constituents, and provided transparency and improved accessibility to them. Students and educators, both benefited from the utilization of this smartphone technology.

iMatr has made an instant impact with government. When the world choses to engage habits of ‘destructive social media’ through trolls or fake identities, iMatr counters, and introduces ‘constructive social media and DT’ for the purposes of advancing humanity. Politicians who had not used social media to engage citizens, now use iMatr for this purpose. Over a 1000% increase has recently occurred in their participation.

Citizens and students who haven’t engaged their democracy by voice, email, letter writing or a visit to representatives, now participate in their governance with mobile devices. At the time of writing a 1000+ % increase in users, teachers, classes and institution participation has occurred over 2021.

The results are measured through platform technology and exit surveys. With increasing awareness, and continued buy-in by users and politicians, the future impact of iMatr will lead to a transformative change in education and democracy both in Canada and around the globe.

iMatr incurred challenges in software and hardware implementation. Growing from zero, iMatr mitigated future challenges by developing technical infrastructure to conceptualize, create, test and deploy country versions of it DT globally. Stress testing of scaled systems present a current challenge, however, through Canada's CENGN, testing will occur at the start of 2023.
Early versions of the innovation were not as intuitive or user friendly with the information it provided. Revised versions addressed exit survey comments, providing a familiar format similar to social media platforms.

Compilation of currently available Open Data has not been smooth and therefore involved manual research. To reduce labor costs, a data center was created in Sarajevo, BiH.
User and political buy-in was skeptical at first, due to fears of election interference by bad actors or foreign bots or trolls. iMatr prevents such apprehension and outcomes through its PIN system mailed to user homes.

iMatr success is dependent on its: efficient functioning, its human resources, its leadership, its ability to get user buy-in and capitalization, and the content strategy it presents on the platform. These elements are intertwined into a corporate vision, mission and culture that has clear definition for its operations through the implementation of standardized processes, the deployment of software / hardware protocols, and the guidance provided by corporate policies and procedures.

Each area of operation is required to meet a country’s governance mandate, its digital infrastructure, its legal, societal and business infrastructure; operating under a local partnership agreement.
The present global state of democratic discourse provides an environment ripe for new modes of democratic engagement, especially through a digital transformation of governance structures and educational learning systems.

Leadership at iMatr empowers a world of possibility and the belief in societal change.

The innovation has been replicated within 4 governance structures in Canada. It's design allows for easy modification to the type and level of governance within a country. For example, it has been replicated to function on a national, provincial, regional, and municipal level in Canada.

A comprehensive country deployment template provides a road map for replication into new countries. Slight modifications to the technology will bring on and replicate the innovation in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, and the USA in 2024.

Additional capitalization will permit further replication through the deployment of country specific teams. These systems and protocols will mirror the Canadian implementation process and experience.
Challenges of citizen indifference, especially with youth in political and governance structures, can be found throughout the world. These sentiments provide huge opportunities for replication of the innovation within educational and political systems.

Through the innovation process, iMatr has learned that “big ideas” for a greater good are possible. Finding believers in the corporate vision and mission is what’s needed to drive the novel concept forward, but it’s the content, product and experience that defines the initiative.

Enthusiasm and excitement about an innovation propels interest, but it can also lead to unpreparedness. Creation of the innovation in its early days, should also include the creation and adoption of corporate operational structures, policies and procedures and product design implementation protocols.

Running processes in a parallel way can lead to earlier completion dates. However, one runs the risk of one process getting ahead of the other especially in the creation of a novel innovation, where precedents don’t exist.

Expect the unexpected, even in the contact email inbox. At the start of our deployment, the Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities requested a meeting to discuss our innovation.

The introduction of a paradigm shift in how citizens of the world engage governance structures and their representatives, involves creative and bold innovation.
iMatr together with IQed, constructs this foundation and infrastructure to initiate that ‘shift’.

Changes to the conventional approach of governance will have it's challenges, when politicians speak to important and consequential issues. Are those issues relevant to the youth and young voters of today in their present formats? Often they are not. So is it any wonder, why young people in Canada and the world, are the least participatory demographic of voter engagement.

IQed empowers youth and citizens of countries to engage issues that are important to them, making political discourse relevant. DT on smartphones launches this paradigm shift, thereby, creating a more inclusive, educated and positive world.