Asking questions. In public space. Without barriers.
A printed A2 board carrying your process, and in front of it a battery-powered e-paper device with five answer buttons. Put it up, let people take part, evaluate it in the same participation project.
Participation usually reaches the same people
Anyone with an opinion should be able to voice it. The usual formats make that hard — and so they skew the picture an administration gets of its population.
No time for the workshop
Evening sessions reach the people who already come. Anyone working shifts or putting children to bed stays outside.
Too many hurdles online
Find the link, register, enter your details. Every step costs participants — and the online survey only reaches those who already know the channel.
The question is asked at a desk
Participation happens where nobody is currently affected. The place at issue does not appear in the process itself — and the people who use it every day are not asked.
A landscape display, five answer buttons, no cable
The box measures 244 × 189 × 65 mm. Behind the clear pane sits a monochrome 7.5-inch e-paper panel with 800 × 480 pixels, mounted in landscape. Below it are five buttons at even spacing forming an answer scale — the display draws an arrow above each one, pointing at its button. A sixth button sits apart on the right-hand edge.
- →On battery there is no power connection, no cable and no socket at the site. The box runs for up to three months on one battery charge, and you can see the battery level in the dashboard.
- →Collected offline, transmitted later. Answers stay in the device until the next sync and then go out over LTE as a few kilobytes.
- →No account, no app. Pressing buttons is enough.
- →Multilingual. German and up to four more languages per survey, including easy-to-read German. The language is picked with a button on the start screen.
- →On a schedule. Several surveys on one box, by weekday and time of day. The box switches by itself.
- →Own answers via QR code. If no answer fits, the box shows a QR code and people carry on typing on their own phone.
- →On battery there is no opening to the outside. The USB-C port sits behind a screw plug on the back. Screwed shut, it helps against weather and vandalism.
- →Built for outdoor use. Sealed parting line, sealed display seat, buttons rated IP65/67.
The box asks. The board says who is asking.
The eye-catcher
The board is the surface that works as people walk past. On its own, from ten metres away, the box is just a black case.
The sender
Coat of arms, wordmark, topic, deadline and the QR code to the project page all sit on the board. There is no room for them on the display: 800 × 480 monochrome carry the question and the five answer options. Without the board nobody knows who is asking.
The carrier
At a post, the board is the mount, not the decoration. The box is screwed to the board from behind, and the board hangs on the post with two band clamps.
The board is A2 portrait (420 × 594 mm, around 3.2 kg), 10 mm rigid PVC foam, printed with your process: header band, headline, three columns, box in the lower third.
The box adds to your platform. It does not replace it.
The Mitmachbox adds one channel — the running process stays where it is. There are three ways to do that.
Standalone
Box and platform from us. Create surveys, design the board, manage devices, evaluate and export results, separate logins for your team. Nothing has to change on an existing platform — you do not even need one.
Alongside an existing platform
The box runs on our platform, your portal keeps its role. Results go across as a CSV export or as a report PDF, for example to publish them on the project page.
Native in Consul
nativeIn the Consul edition of demokratie.today, the participation platform for cities, districts and municipalities, the box is a project phase — you work in the familiar Consul layout without learning a second system. Write questions in the admin area, publish a version, roll it out to devices — results and CSV sit in the same project as the online phases.
All three ways share this: every site can be evaluated on its own and compared with the others — and the same question can additionally run online within the same process. On site and online are not two decisions but one operation.
What sets the Mitmachbox apart
The lowest barrier
No link, no sign-up, no form. Whoever walks past presses a button and has taken part.
No staff tied up
No stand duty, no clipboard. The box asks around the clock, in the rain and in winter.
One process instead of two
Offline and online phases run in the same participation project — one evaluation, not two separate data sets.
Evaluation that holds up
Every answer carries its timestamp, the survey version and the site of its box — traceable in committee too.
Several surveys on one box, on a schedule
One survey in the morning, another in the afternoon, a third at the weekend. Each survey gets its time windows by weekday and time of day, and the box switches by itself. Nobody has to be on site for it.
Participation in four steps
Receive board and box
Board and box come as rental units — including mounting material and tools.
Create the survey
The survey is created as a phase in your participation project: write questions, keep them as a draft, then publish.
Set it up on site
Board on the post with two band clamps, screw the box to the board from behind.
Evaluate and report
Compare results by site, download the report as PDF or export all answers as CSV.
From the push of a button to the finished report
Every answer arrives on the platform with its site and time. You see the figures while the survey is still running, compare the sites and at the end hand over a report you can show to the council. You do not need any knowledge of statistics for this.
Live while it runs
For every running survey, the overview shows total participation, today and the last seven days, the share online and the trend per site. For every box you see the last sync, the battery level and how many days it will last.
Results per question and site
Every question with bars, percentages and counts, for all answers, one site or online only. The trend is available per day and, with a tap on a day, per hour. Online answers that look like one person taking part several times are flagged, and you decide whether they stay.
Report with AI key findings and cross tables
The AI drafts up to six key findings, your team edits and approves them. Cross tables show the answers by site and by up to three characteristics, such as age group. Groups of fewer than ten people are flagged.
Export and PDF
All answers as a CSV file that opens in Excel, plus the open answers as a separate file. You download the report as an A4 PDF, in German or English, as an interim result or at the end.
Press and social media
Nine ready-made images for social media, individually or as a ZIP, plus drafts for the press release and the official gazette as a Word file, a press photo and an infographic in the press pack. Everything is built from the approved key findings.
Embed on your website
With a few lines of code, a project's citizen page also runs on your city's website, with survey and results or with the results only. You decide in the platform which websites are allowed to do that.
Sample report as PDF
This is what a report downloaded from the platform looks like: seven A4 pages with key figures, key findings, results per question, cross tables and methodology.
Sample report in German, invented data for the town of Musterhausen
Download sample report (PDF, 170 KB)What the AI gets to see
For the key findings the AI only receives aggregated figures: totals, shares and cross tables. Individual answers, box data or details about people are never sent to the AI. Only key findings your team has checked and approved become visible.
The box is a phase in your participation project
This is the native route in detail — three points that make the difference to a device without a platform.
Draft and publication
A published version is immutable — anyone changing something afterwards creates a new version. Every answer stays attached to the version it was collected against. An answer's identifier is created on the device so that it can exist without a network connection, and it is unique there — a dropped connection produces no duplicate vote.
Evaluation per site
Each site on its own and sites compared with one another. Offline and online answers as CSV from the same project.
Devices at a glance
Site, battery level, remaining battery days and last sync for every box.
Swipe sideways for answers and status.
Three question types — and an order that can branch
Single choice
One answer per question. One button press, on to the next question.
Multiple choice
Several answers are possible, each counts separately in the evaluation.
Rating scale
The options carry numeric values so that averages can be calculated.
Own answer via QR code
One answer per question can be “Something else”. Pressing it shows a QR code, and the answer is typed on one’s own phone. The box carries on meanwhile.
Several languages
New: easy-to-read German. Write the questions in German, choose up to four more languages, and AI translates them, on request also into easy-to-read German, which your team reviews before publishing. At the box, the language is picked with a button on the start screen.
Conditional questions
The next question depends on the previous answer. Anyone pressing “Never” on question 2 is not asked the questions about usage but skips ahead.
Every question can be mandatory or optional.
More municipalities than boxes
Every device is made one at a time: 3D-printed housing, populated circuit board, laser-cut pane. We build in small batches — and demand runs ahead of production.
The first series is taken. Anyone joining the waiting list now is next in line as soon as we allocate the following slots.
What is always included
Rented or bought — platform, mobile data and support come with every package.
Included
- Platform with any number of surveys
- Mobile data including SIM
- Software and firmware updates
- Briefing and support
- Replacement if faulty
- One replacement after theft or vandalism
A board that changes with the topic
- From three months of rental the board comes along, with a purchase it is yours
- A new process gets a new film — same board, new topic
- No new purchase per topic, no storing of retired posters
Not needed
- No server
- No IT integration
- No power connection
- No network needed on site
- No stand duty
Three ways onto the network
How the box sends its answers depends on the site, not on the process. Every connection works with every package — the device stays the same.
Mobile data
The box brings its own SIM and reports in regularly with a few kilobytes. Nothing to connect at the site, nothing to open up on your network.
The standard case for anything that moves around.
Wi-Fi
Where the box stays in one place and a network is within reach, it joins that one — in the town hall, the library, the citizens' office.
For stationary use.
LoRaWAN
Where the municipality runs its own LoRaWAN, the box joins it directly. Range over kilometres at very low power, including where mobile coverage thins out.
For cities that already have the network.
Packages
The packages differ in how long the box stays and who owns it.
Monthly rental
To get startedOne process, one period. For a campaign, a traffic trial or a construction site.
€300net per box and month
- From 1 box and 1 month
- Board included from 3 months, otherwise €149
- Unlimited surveys
- We handle charging
- Briefing by video
Annual rental
The boxes stay with you for a year and move from process to process.
€3,000net per box and year
- From 1 box, 12 months
- €250 a month, two months free
- Board included, a new film for each process
- Charged on site, battery level in the dashboard
- Support by email
Purchase
The box is yours. The operating package keeps platform, mobile data and warranty running.
on requestper box, one-off
- Box with a designed back board
- Monthly operating package per box
- Warranty for the term of the operating package
- Charged on site, battery level in the dashboard
- Pays off from about two years of use
All prices plus VAT. Prices as of October 2026, subject to change.
You can do this on your own
From the board to the report, you do everything yourself in the browser at app.mitmachboxen.de. You do not need an IT department, and the help explains every step.
Project and board
You create a project and the AI designs the A2 board from your keywords in one of seven styles, or you upload your agency's PDF.
Read the guideSurvey
You write the questions with up to five answers each, with branching and in up to four more languages if you like, and check everything via a preview link.
Read the guideSet up the box
You assign the survey to a box with a site and a schedule and strap the board to a post or lamppost with two band clamps.
Read the guideEvaluate
You follow participation live, filter the results by site and pass on the report with the approved key findings as a PDF.
Read the guideHelp with step-by-step guides and short videos
The help explains the platform and the box: creating a survey and putting it on the box, choosing a site, mounting, charging the battery and what to do when something goes wrong. You can open it without logging in.
And if a question is still open, we are here: info@demokratie.today or 0176 / 821 688 78.
The questions municipalities ask first
Does it need Wi-Fi?
Normally not — it brings its own SIM, and the answers go out over the mobile network as a few kilobytes. Nothing has to be opened up on your network. Where you would rather have it otherwise, it also joins a Wi-Fi or a LoRaWAN.
What happens if the box is stolen or destroyed?
There is no personal data on the device. An answer consists of the device, the survey version, the timestamp and the options pressed — nothing more. A missing box is property damage, not a data breach. We replace a box lost to theft or vandalism once per contract.
How many questions can a survey have?
Several in a row — the display shows the progress. Each question offers five answer options, one per button below the display.
Can people answer in their own words?
Yes, via an answer option such as “Something else”. The box then shows a QR code, and the text is typed on one’s own phone. In the results the texts appear under the option, and single ones can be hidden.
Which languages does the box speak?
German and, if you like, up to four more languages per survey, such as English, Turkish, Ukrainian, Polish or Russian, and now also easy-to-read German: the AI writes the questions by its rules and your team reviews them before they go on the box. Arabic and other right-to-left scripts cannot be shown on the e-paper.
Can one box show several surveys?
Yes, on a schedule. Each survey gets its time windows, once on a given date or every week on set days, for example Monday to Friday from 8 am to noon. The box keeps the plan on board and switches by itself, even when it has no connection at the moment.
Who evaluates the results?
You do, right in the browser. Every question is shown with percentages and counts, for all answers, one site or online only, plus the trend per day and per hour. The report adds key findings drafted by the AI and approved by your team, and cross tables by site and by characteristics such as age. All answers are available as CSV, the report as PDF.
Do I need to know statistics?
No. The platform calculates percentages, averages and cross tables. Every key figure in the report states its basis, such as “329 of 677”, and groups of fewer than ten people are flagged. A section on interpretation names the limits of the survey, for example that it is not representative.
What does the AI see of the answers?
Only aggregated figures: totals, shares and cross tables. It does not receive individual answers, box data or details about people. Its key findings are drafts; only those your team checks and approves become visible.
Can I present the results to the council?
Yes. The report brings together participation, results per question, cross tables and the approved key findings, and states the methodology and data source. You download it as an A4 PDF, as an interim result while the survey runs or as the final result. The sample report in the Results section shows what it looks like.
Is there a guide?
Yes. The help at app.mitmachboxen.de/hilfe explains the platform and the box step by step, from the first survey to mounting, battery and faults, with short videos. And if a question is still open, write to info@demokratie.today.
Book a demo
We show you the box online in 30 minutes — with your specific process in mind. After that you will know whether it fits.