Centre d'analyse des politiques publiques - Université Laval

What Centre d'analyse des politiques publiques - Université Laval does

The Centre d'analyse des politiques publiques (CAPP) is an academic research center embedded within Université Laval's Faculty of Social Sciences in Quebec City, Canada. Founded in 2000 as an evolution of the Groupe de recherche sur les interventions gouvernementales (GRIG, itself created in 1985) and tracing informal collaborations back to 1976, CAPP is described as the only research group in Canada dedicated exclusively to public policy analysis. The center studies interactions between researchers, citizens, policymakers, and media in the political process using a hybrid of qualitative and quantitative digital methods, with research organized around three axes and twelve international policy issues.

CAPP operates a portfolio of seven public-facing digital products built around a digital evidence-based research platform. Radar+ collects and structures front pages of major Quebec, Canadian, and American media outlets every 10 minutes; Polimètre verifies whether politicians keep campaign promises across federal and provincial governments including Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick; Agora+ aggregates data from Quebec, Canadian, and European Union decision-makers; Projet Quorum provides real-time tracking of public, media, and decision-maker perceptions; Datagotchi lets citizens position themselves politically and culturally; Poltext is a textual database for automated content analysis; and La Vitrine démocratique visualizes media discourse. Underlying capabilities include natural language processing via Poltext and structured-data collection via Radar+.

The center is structured as a non-commercial academic entity with 11 employees, governed by a Director (Yannick Dufresne) and Co-director (Shannon Dinan) and supported by a multi-tier team of regular, associate, emeritus, postdoctoral, and student members across multiple universities. Revenue is not generated through commercial pricing; instead, the center is funded through academic research grants and institutional support from Université Laval. CAPP distributes its work through academic publications and conferences, its own web applications, knowledge-transfer tools, and strategic partnerships with CLESSN, Vox Pop Labs, CECD, GRCP, PerfoEval, Institut Donald J. Savoie, Infoscope, and Unicorne.

Name

Centre d'analyse des politiques publiques - Université Laval

Legal name

Centre d'analyse des politiques publiques

Website

https://capp.ulaval.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CAPP is an academic research center at Université Laval in Quebec dedicated to public policy analysis using digital methods, operating seven public-facing tools for media monitoring, electoral promise tracking, and civic engagement for researchers, policymakers, citizens, and media.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Policy Research

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

akta.pro primary industry

Policy, Regulatory & Public Affairs Research (BPAHALAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

PR, Reputation Management & Earned Media Platforms (BPAMALAO), Public Relations Measurement, Analytics & Monitoring (BPAFADAL)

Keywords

• Public policy analysis
• Digital research methods
• Electoral promise tracking
• Media monitoring tools
• Political science research

Headquarters

HQ city

Québec

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Academic research center at Université Laval dedicated to public policy analysis using digital evidence-based methods. Develops and operates a suite of proprietary web tools (Radar+, Polimètre, Agora+, Projet Quorum, Datagotchi, Poltext, La Vitrine démocratique, Civimètre) for media monitoring, electoral promise verification, public opinion tracking, and citizen engagement.

Product overview

The Centre d'analyse des politiques publiques (CAPP) is a public policy research center at Université Laval offering a suite of digital knowledge transfer tools. The portfolio consists of Radar+ (media data collection), Polimètre (electoral promise tracking), Agora+ (decision-maker data analysis), Projet Quorum (public sentiment monitoring), Datagotchi (citizen self-positioning), Poltext (automated text analysis), and La Vitrine démocratique (media discourse visualization). These products work together to support democratic debate, scientific vulgarization, and public policy analysis through both quantitative and qualitative digital methods.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Radar+: Media data collection tool that collects, stores, and structures front pages of major Quebec, Canadian, and American media every 10 minutes
• Polimètre
• Agora+
• Projet Quorum
• Datagotchi
• Vitrine démocratique
• Civimètre

Products and services

• Radar+

Quantifiable outcome

• Polimeter expanded to track promises of federal and multiple provincial governments (Canada, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick)
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Centre pour l'étude de la citoyenneté démocratique (CECD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCECD is a valuable partner in advancing democratic citizenship research. The partnership contributes to the success of CAPP's mission and elevates the quality of research through collaborative efforts in studying citizenship and democratic processes.
• Vox Pop LabscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVox Pop Labs is a key strategic partner, notably collaborating on the Polimeter Higgs (New Brunswick, 2019) and Polimeter Ford (Ontario, 2020) initiatives. The partnership combines expertise in political analysis and data science.
• Groupe de recherche en communication politique (GRCP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGRCP is a partner research group at Université Laval focused on political communication research. The partnership strengthens collaborative research efforts in political communication and policy dissemination.
• Chaire de leadership en enseignement des sciences sociales numériques (CLESSN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLESSN is a core academic partner holding the Chaire de leadership en enseignement des sciences sociales numériques. Yannick Dufresne serves as both CAPP Director and CLESSN Holder, creating a紧密 integrated research and teaching partnership for digital social sciences innovation.
• Institut Donald J. SavoieminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with CAPP on the Polimeter Higgs project for New Brunswick, combining expertise in public policy and regional governance analysis.
• PerƒEval LaboratoryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn 2016, CAPP partnered with the PerƒEval laboratory, strengthening expertise in public policy evaluation. This collaboration enriched research on policy efficiency and effectiveness.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Léger: One of Canada's largest full-service polling and market research firms with a well-established public affairs practice. Larger and broader than CAPP, but operates in the same Canadian public opinion and policy research space.
• C.D. Howe Institute: Established Canadian think tank publishing research across economic and public policy issues. Larger and broader than CAPP, but operates in the same Canadian evidence-based policy research and knowledge-transfer space.

Direct peers

• Pollara Strategic Insights: Canadian research firm specializing in public opinion polling, communications research, and stakeholder engagement. Comparable to CAPP in methodology (opinion polling, policy research) and Canadian government/policy audience.
• Abacus Data: Canadian public opinion and market research firm specializing in political polling, civic engagement research, and segmentation. Comparable methodology (survey research, public opinion polling) and Canadian policy audience overlap with CAPP.
• Samara Centre for Democracy: Canadian nonpartisan research organization producing reports on political participation, democratic engagement, and public opinion. Closely comparable to CAPP in mission (evidence-based democracy research) and Canadian scope.
• Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP): Independent Canadian think tank conducting evidence-based policy research and publishing on federal/provincial policy issues. Directly comparable to CAPP's policy research and knowledge-transfer mandate.
• Public Policy Forum: Canadian non-profit focused on evidence-based public policy research and convening dialogues between researchers, citizens, and decision-makers. Highly comparable mandate to CAPP in connecting research evidence with policy practice.
• Vox Pop Labs: Canadian civic-tech firm behind Vote Compass and a documented CAPP partner on Polimètre Higgs (2019) and Polimètre Ford (2020). Operates in the same intersection of public opinion research, voter engagement tools, and electoral promise tracking that CAPP targets.
• EKOS Research Associates: Canadian public opinion research firm with deep expertise in federal/provincial polling and political communications. Comparable to CAPP in its focus on Canadian electoral and policy opinion measurement.
• Centre pour l'étude de la citoyenneté démocratique (CECD): Quebec-based research centre on democratic citizenship; listed as a core CAPP partner. Shares CAPP's focus on democratic participation, civic engagement, and political socialization research.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/DATAGOTCHI_fr
• Facebookfacebook.com/datagotchiCLESSN
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cappulaval
• Instagraminstagram.com/datagotchi_fr

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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