%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2020 %T Understanding Civic Crowdfunding as a Mechanism for Leveraging Civic Engagement and Urban Innovation %A Bastiaan Baccarne %A Tom Evens %A Lieven De Marez %K Civic crowdfunding %K Civic engagement %K Civic entrepreneurship %K Civic identity %K Digital citizenship %K Participation inequalities %K Peer-to-peer economy %K Social cohesion %K Urban innovation %X This article studies the emergence of government-initiated civic crowdfunding platforms. Such platforms can be considered as governmental responses for bottom-up peer-to-peer support mechanisms related to urban innovation, which also allows top-down governance and governmental support systems for civic entrepreneurship. To better understand the implications of these innovative ICT-enabled interaction interfaces for collective urban innovation, this study investigates participation inequalities from the perspective of campaign instigators, using in-depth interviews (N=28), and from the perspective of the citizen-funder, using a survey (N=265). The analysis shows that urban crowdfunding practices mainly contribute to higher-level development of collective identities with increased neighborhood capacities. Although participation in such ICT-enabled interaction interfaces could reinforce digital inequalities and existing power balances, this research shows a more nuanced perspective, in which online and offline practices intertwine. Furthermore, while civic crowdfunding campaigns are driven by a traditional 'participation elite', the deliberation process on development projects involves new publics that are not typically engaged in civic activities. Hence, civic crowdfunding formulates a new mode of civic engagement in which institutional involvement acts as a trust broker between civic funders and civic entrepreneurs, as well as adding legitimacy to innovation processes in the public sphere. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 10 %P 51-66 %8 05/2020 %G eng %U timreview.ca/article/1356 %N 5 %1 Ghent University Dr. Bastiaan Baccarne is a senior researcher at imec-mict-Ghent University, Belgium. His academic interests converge on the crossroads between urban challenges, (urban) living labs, civic technology and smart cities. His work focusses on the potential and development of new interfaces in the urban environment to solve wicked urban issues. In September 2019, Bastiaan finished his PhD on innovative ICT-enabled interaction interfaces in the urban environment, titled: "collaborative and participatory challenges in urban innovation". This includes research on online civic engagement, digital citizenship, urban commons, innovation ecosystems and urban social informatics. %2 Ghent University Professor Tom Evens is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences at Ghent University, Belgium. He holds Masters Degrees in Communication Sciences (2005) and Business Administration (2006) from Ghent University. Tom teaches in Media Economics (Ba1), Innovation and Tech Policy (Ma) and Business Models in Media and Technology (Ma). He is fellow holder of the chair ‘Media in a Society in Transition’. %3 Ghent University Professor Lieven De Marez holds degrees in in communication sciences (1999) and marketing (2000), and a PhD on the ‘Diffusion of ICT-innovations: more accurate user insight for better introduction strategies’. He heads the interdisciplinary research group imec-mict-Ghent University, Belgium, a group of approx. 50 researchers teaming up around a mission to empower users in a digitizing society. His personal research focus is on methodological innovation to feel the digital pulse of users in a digitizing society. %& 51 %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1356