ImagineLA (ex-CDLA)

What ImagineLA (ex-CDLA) does

Imagine LA (formerly CDLA - Conseil de Développement de Loire-Atlantique) is the statutory citizen development council of the Loire-Atlantique Department in western France, founded in 2005 and renamed from CDLA to Imagine LA. It functions as a public advisory body under departmental government authority, hosting open conferences-debates and citizen workshops on territorial development topics chosen by residents themselves, including healthcare prevention, social cohesion, housing, employment, aging population challenges, and rural development. The organization's outputs are formal opinions and recommendations delivered to the Departmental Council and regional decision-makers to inform territorial policy decisions.

The core offering is a civic participation platform delivered through in-person public events and complementary digital channels including a newsletter ('En dialogue'), a LinkedIn page (@conseil-de-développement-de-loire-atlantique), and a YouTube channel (@CDLA44) hosting conference recordings. The platform is open to all inhabitants of the Loire-Atlantique department with no segmentation, gating, or pricing. Imagine LA maintains no commercial product surface, no proprietary software stack, no APIs, no SDKs, no integrations, no patents, and no AI capabilities. Service delivery is human-mediated through staff, facilitators, and volunteer participants.

Revenue is derived entirely from the Loire-Atlantique departmental government budget allocation; the organization does not generate commercial revenue, charge fees, accept private capital, or have external shareholders. With a headcount of 47 staff, it operates from a single headquarters at 3 Quai Ceineray in Nantes. The entity has no subsidiaries, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, no partnerships outside its parent departmental authority, and no disclosed management team information. Its sole customer/stakeholder tier consists of citizens of Loire-Atlantique and the elected officials of the Departmental Council.

Name

ImagineLA (ex-CDLA)

Legal name

Imagine LA - Conseil de Développement du Département de Loire-Atlantique

Website

https://imaginela.fr

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Imagine LA is the statutory citizen development council of the Loire-Atlantique Department in France, facilitating collective citizen expression on territorial development through open conferences-debates, citizen workshops, and digital channels serving the department's inhabitants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Civic Participation Services

NAICS

Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (925120), Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Nonprofit & Cause Communications (BPAFADAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Event & Experiential PR (Launches, Stunts, Press Events) (MPAAADAM), DEI, Equity & Inclusion Advisory (BPACAJAJ)

Keywords

• Civic participation services
• Citizen engagement programs
• Public sector advisory
• Territorial development council
• Community consultation services

Headquarters

HQ city

Nantes

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Government Funding: ImagineLA is funded by the Loire-Atlantique Department. As a public civic participation body, it operates on government budget allocations rather than commercial revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

ImagineLA operates a public civic participation platform for the inhabitants of the Loire-Atlantique department, organizing open conferences-debates, citizen workshops, and themed discussion cycles on topics chosen by residents (including healthcare prevention, social cohesion, housing, employment, and rural development). It collects and synthesizes collective citizen input into opinions and recommendations delivered to the Departmental Council and local decision-makers.

Product overview

Imagine LA is a civic participation and citizen engagement platform operated by the Loire-Atlantique Department in France. The platform operates as a single unified offering centered on facilitating collective intelligence and democratic dialogue between residents and elected officials. Its core offering includes citizen conferences (conférences-débats), citizen workshops (ateliers citoyens), and thematic discussion cycles covering areas such as healthcare prevention, social cohesion, housing, employment, and rural development. The platform is complemented by a newsletter ('En dialogue') and presence on social media including LinkedIn and YouTube.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Imagine LA — citizen participation platform Public civic participation and citizen intelligence platform operated by the Loire-Atlantique Department. Provides a space for collective citizen expression on the future of the territory, offering conferences-debates, citizen workshops, and themed discussion cycles, with outputs formulated as opinions and recommendations for the Departmental Council and local decision-makers.
• Citizen conferences-debates (conférences-débats) Open public conferences and debates organized for all inhabitants of Loire-Atlantique, addressing topics chosen by residents themselves, including healthcare prevention, social cohesion, housing, employment, and rural development.
• Citizen workshops (ateliers citoyens) Open citizen workshops open to all inhabitants of Loire-Atlantique, designed to facilitate knowledge sharing, collective reflection, and the formulation of opinions and recommendations on territorial development topics.
• 'En dialogue' newsletter Regular newsletter providing updates on Imagine LA activities and citizen participation opportunities, distributed to inhabitants of the Loire-Atlantique department.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves4 records

Direct peers

• Make.org: Make.org is a French civic engagement platform that runs large-scale citizen consultations and deliberation campaigns. Like ImagineLA, it focuses on aggregating citizen input to inform public decision-makers, and serves a similar French-speaking population of citizens and government stakeholders.
• Citizenlab: Citizenlab is a civic engagement SaaS platform used by European municipalities and regional governments to run participatory processes, citizen panels, and consultations. It is comparable in target customer (local/regional government) and in mission (structured citizen input into public decisions), making it the closest commercial peer to ImagineLA's offering.
• Bang the Table: Bang the Table provides an online civic engagement platform (EngagementHQ) used by hundreds of local governments worldwide to consult citizens and run participatory programs. It targets the same end customer (local/regional government) and delivers a similar value proposition of structured citizen input into public decision-making.
• Cap Collectif: Cap Collectif is a French civic-tech company whose platform powers the official 'votreavis.loire-atlantique.fr' consultation portal adjacent to ImagineLA, and it is widely used by French local governments for public consultations. It is a direct peer in the French civic-participation-for-government category.
• Décider ensemble: Décider ensemble is the French national association promoting participatory democracy, with a membership of elected officials, civic bodies, and local governments. It is a peer in the French civic participation ecosystem, comparable in mission to ImagineLA's role in facilitating citizen-to-government dialogue.
• Conseil de développement de Nantes Métropole: This is a sister 'conseil de développement' serving the Nantes metropolitan area, with a near-identical legal status, mandate, and operating model to ImagineLA. It is the most direct structural peer, operating in the same geography on overlapping territorial development themes.

Emerging players

• Loomio: Loomio is a collaborative decision-making platform used by civic groups, co-ops, and governments to facilitate collective deliberation. It overlaps with ImagineLA's facilitation of group-based citizen deliberation, although it is a commercial SaaS product rather than a public institution.
• Delib UK: Delib provides citizen consultation and engagement software to UK and international local authorities. It is a niche commercial peer in the same civic-tech-for-government category as ImagineLA's organizing function, although the UK market and the platform model differ.
• Décidim (Consortium): Decidim is a free open-source participatory democracy platform used by numerous European cities and regions. It is a thematically related enabling technology in the same civic-participation space as ImagineLA, though it is a community-governed open-source project rather than a commercial or government entity.

Regional players

• Conseil de développement de la Métropole de Lyon: This is the equivalent mandatory civic participation body for the Lyon metropolitan area, sharing ImagineLA's legal framework, mandate, and mission of aggregating citizen input to inform a French local government. It is a regional peer in the same institutional category.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@CDLA44
• Facebookfacebook.com/loireatlantique
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/conseil-de-d-veloppement-de-loire-atlantique
• Instagraminstagram.com/loireatlantique

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ImagineLA (ex-CDLA)