What Sociolab does

Sociolab (legal name: Sociolab Società Cooperativa – Impresa Sociale) is an Italian social cooperative founded in 2007 and headquartered in Florence, with an operational office in Rome. The firm provides consulting and training services in participatory planning, community building, urban regeneration, democratic deliberation, social housing, health policy participation, and youth/education engagement. Its primary clients are Italian public administrations (municipalities and regional governments), third-sector organizations, and, to a lesser extent, private companies. Core service lines are professional consulting engagements and structured training programs (e.g., community activators, co-design facilitation, social base activation, youth participation), delivered on a quote-based, project-by-project basis through a sales-led go-to-market motion.

The firm's product surface is built around proprietary participatory methodologies and a serious-games portfolio rather than software. The flagship methodology, Pop Up (live since 2014 and deployed in more than 10 Italian municipalities), reactivates unused commercial spaces through coordinated 3–5 month temporary reopenings. The serious-games suite — Socialhousingame, Combola, Urban Pictionary, La Bussola dei Servizi, and the school emergency-preparedness kit including Album delle Emergenze — is used to facilitate community conversations, condominium cohesion, civic understanding of public services, and emergency readiness. Additional branded programs include SIC! (open self-training space, opened to the public in February 2023), Cantieri della Salute (Tuscan health-policy participation with Regione Toscana), PartecipaLi (Livorno decentralized participation bodies, yielding 160+ candidacies), the Bologna Climate Assembly (100 citizens, in partnership with Fondazione Innovazione Urbana), Democratic Camps (with Cosmos at Scuola Normale Superiore), and Abito in Community / Verso l'urban housing under the Urban Housing Coop.net network.

Sociolab operates as a member-owned cooperative governed by 13 named partners (soci/socie) and supported by four external collaborators, totaling over 20 people with multidisciplinary expertise in political science, social science, economics, architecture, psychology, anthropology, and communication. Lorenza Soldani serves as President, with Chiara Missikoff and Francesco Ranghiasci as Administrators. Revenue is not publicly disclosed; the firm publishes a bilancio sociale (social balance sheet). The cooperative holds two Premio Urbanistica awards from the Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica (2020 and 2023) and a 2025 Gender Equality Certification (UNI PdR 125:2022). Geographic focus is Italy (Tuscany and Lazio regions), with a recent international engagement in France via the La Mer en 3D deliberative event across five cities in 2024.

Name

Sociolab

Legal name

Sociolab Società Cooperativa – Impresa Sociale

Website

https://sociolab.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sociolab is an Italian social cooperative founded in 2007 that provides participatory consulting and training to public administrations, third-sector organizations, and private companies on community engagement, urban regeneration, and democratic processes, delivered via proprietary methodologies and serious games.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Participation & Community Engagement Consulting

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Housing & Neighborhood Services (Local Housing Programs) (BPAIACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cooperative (Co-op) Housing Association Management (BPAJAHAC), Housing Transition & Supported Living Navigation (EDAKANAK)

Keywords

• Participatory consulting services
• Community engagement facilitation
• Urban regeneration methodologies
• Serious games design
• Cooperative social enterprise

Headquarters

HQ city

Florence

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Provides participatory planning, community building, and urban regeneration consulting services to public administrations, third sector organizations, and private companies since 2007
2. Training Programs: Offers training courses for public administrations, third sector organizations, and private entities including community activators, shared design, social base activation, co-design facilitation methods, and youth participation programs

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sociolab is an Italian social cooperative that provides participatory consulting, training, and facilitation services to public administrations, third-sector organizations, and private companies. Its work spans community engagement, urban regeneration, democratic participation programs, collaborative housing, and health-policy participation, supported by a proprietary toolkit of serious games and methodologies such as Pop Up and SIC!. The firm has delivered these services since 2007 from offices in Florence and Rome.

Product overview

Sociolab is a social cooperative offering participation and social research services, not a technology product company. Its portfolio consists of methodologies, participatory programs, and serious games designed to facilitate community engagement, democratic participation, collaborative housing, urban regeneration, and health policy participation. The core methodologies include Pop Up (urban revitalization through temporary space reuse) and various participatory programs like Cantieri della Salute, SIC! self-training, Democratic Camps, PartecipaLi, and the Bologna Climate Assembly. The serious games suite includes Socialhousingame, Combola, La Bussola dei Servizi, Urban Pictionary, and school emergency games. The Urban Housing program supports collaborative housing communities through the Abito in Community framework. These offerings work together as a integrated toolkit for public participation, community building, and democratic engagement across urban planning, health, education, and environmental domains.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SIC! – Spazi di Intelligenza Collettiva: Self-training and collective intelligence space open to community building enthusiasts, launched internally in 2022 and opened to the public in February 2023.
• Pop Up
• Abito in Community
• Cantieri della Salute

Products and services

• Participatory Consulting and Training Services
• Pop Up
• Abito in Community / Urban Housing Program
• SIC! – Spazi di Intelligenza Collettiva
• Cantieri della Salute
• Democratic Camps / Spazi di Democrazia
• PartecipaLi
• Assemblea cittadina per il clima di Bologna
• Scuola Aperta Città che Educa
• Socialhousingame
• Combola
• Urban Pictionary
• La Bussola dei Servizi
• Giochi per prepararsi a gestire l'emergenza nelle scuole

Quantifiable outcome

• Pop Up project implemented in over 10 municipalities with many activities stabilizing after experimentation
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Fondazione Innovazione UrbanacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Partnership with Fondazione Innovazione Urbana for the Climate Assembly in Bologna, supporting and facilitating citizen deliberation for carbon neutrality policies. Sociolab managed and facilitated participatory working groups.
• Cosmos – The Centre on Social Movement Studies (Scuola Normale Superiore)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Research partnership with Cosmos at Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence for Democratic Camps experiments combining social movement practices with participation methodologies.
• Urban Housing Coop.netcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional network of welfare organizations promoting cooperative and collaborative housing and urban models. Sociolab partners on Abito in Community and Verso l'urban housing programs.
• CasaecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial cooperative and Social Housing Agency part of Co&So consortium in Empoli. Sociolab provides methodological expertise and community building support for solidary housing projects.
• Regione ToscanacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with main Tuscan health institutions since 2020 for Cantieri della Salute project strengthening community participation in local health policies.
• Regione Autonoma Valle d'AostaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Pitem Risk project developing emergency preparedness games for schools including the Album delle emergenze.
• Comune di EmpolicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipal partnership for solidary condominium Freedom social housing experiment and community building support.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ifok: A German dialogue and participation consultancy that designs large-scale stakeholder and citizen participation processes for governments and corporations. Closely comparable in facilitation methodology and B2G/B2B consulting model.
• Labsus: An Italian civic-sustainability laboratory promoting civic collaboration, participatory governance, and social innovation. Comparable as an Italian social-enterprise/NGO operating in civic participation and community engagement.
• Missions Publiques: A French consultancy specializing in public debate, citizen deliberation, and democratic innovation across Europe. Comparable in service offering (facilitation, deliberative processes, training) and in working with public institutions on participatory governance.
• Involve: A UK public-participation charity that designs and delivers citizen deliberation, citizen assemblies, and democratic innovations. Directly comparable in mission, methodology (facilitation, training, public engagement), and target customers (governments and public bodies).
• Demos Helsinki: A Nordic think tank and consultancy working on democratic innovations, citizen deliberation, and sustainability transitions. Comparable in offering facilitation, training, and experimental methodologies for public administrations and civic organizations.
• Democracy International: A German consultancy advising governments and civil society on participatory democracy, deliberative processes, and democratic reform. Comparable in working with EU-level and member-state institutions on citizen engagement initiatives.
• Avventura Urbana: An Italian participatory planning and community engagement consultancy that facilitates participatory processes for public administrations and third-sector organizations. Closely mirrors Sociolab's B2G model and Italian municipal client base.
• Danish Board of Technology Foundation: A Danish independent think tank that facilitates public debate, citizen participation, and technology assessment for parliaments and governments. Comparable in facilitation-based services, deliberative methodologies, and European public-sector client base.

Emerging players

• Citizenlab: A Belgian civic-tech company offering a participation platform for citizen engagement projects by governments. Comparable in serving the same public-sector participatory-governance market, though via a software/SaaS model rather than facilitation services.

Regional players

• Cittalia: An Italian foundation linked to ANCI that researches and supports housing and urban policies for Italian municipalities. Comparable in serving the same Italian municipal and housing-policy ecosystem, though primarily a research and advocacy body rather than a facilitator.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sociolab
• Xx.com/sociolab_tweet
• Facebookfacebook.com/sociolab

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

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 Sociolab