---
title: Policy Incubator
template: project.html
status: mothballed
contributors:
  - Guy Kennedy
website: https://web.archive.org/web/20180827234744/https://policyincubator.com/
summary: "A Melbourne-based online democracy platform focused on crowdsourced policy development — members raised issues, proposed and deliberated on policies, then voted in community referendums."
concepts: [e-government]
last_checked: "2026-06-02"
---

Policy Incubator was a project by Melbourne-based DOD member Guy Kennedy. It was an online democracy platform with a focus on policy development and political action — free and open to members.

The platform's model was sequential: members first raised issues, then proposed and deliberated on policies, then produced a final draft for a community referendum vote. The stated goal was to give the output to community engagement groups, activists, and aspiring leaders for political action. Kennedy described it as a "decentralised policy making and deliberation model" drawing on the power of the crowd — intended to make politics more accessible across Australia.[^about]

The website (`policyincubator.com`) went offline sometime after 2018. Kennedy was listed as a planned speaker at DOD events from late 2018 and gave a presentation at a DOD event in 2019, though no recording appears to have been preserved.

[^about]: "The strength of this decentralised policy making and deliberation model is based on the power of 'the crowd'." Policy Incubator About page (archived): [web.archive.org](https://web.archive.org/web/20190718131041/https://policyincubator.com/home/about_us)

## See also

- [Designing Open Democracy: State of Democracy in Australia (2018)](../blog/posts/2018-12-18.md) — first mention as a planned speaker
