CiviQs from 's-Heerenberg focuses on AI governance for the public sector, not political polling

Recent reports on Donald Trump's approval ratings in American states have been linked to the name CiviQs, but those polls come from an American polling firm, not from the Dutch startup of the same name. CiviQs B.V., based in 's-Heerenberg, is a consultancy founded in 2024 that focuses on AI governance and compliance for the public sector.

The similarity in name is causing confusion: the American Civiqs is a data and opinion research firm that has been conducting rolling tracking polls for the US market for years. The Dutch CiviQs operates entirely independently and focuses exclusively on European governments and public organisations that need to comply with the EU AI Act and related legislation.

What CiviQs B.V. does

CiviQs B.V. was founded by Daniel Verloop, who has more than twenty years of experience in the technology sector. Verloop also serves as an AI specialist at the municipality of Montferland, is a member of the EU AI Alliance, and is a core team member of the Public Services working group of the Dutch AI Coalition (NLAIC). That background strongly shapes the company's service offering: CiviQs works primarily for governments and public institutions that want to deploy AI but must comply with a growing body of laws and regulations.

In concrete terms, the company offers services including AI Gap Assessments, the establishment of AI Governance Frameworks and Algorithm Registers, AI literacy training, and specialised assessments such as Fundamental Rights Impact Assessments. CiviQs also provides interim management in the form of a so-called Remote CAIO, an external Chief AI Officer deployed temporarily within an organisation.

The company has secured a notable position through its involvement in the European Union's first General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, to which CiviQs has been invited to contribute. The company also contributes to the development of AI applications for governments, including projects such as Mai and GovGPT.

What the American Civiqs measures

The polls circulating in September 2026 come from the American Civiqs, a separate company that tracks public opinion in the United States through continuous online polling. On 1 September 2026, their national rolling tracker showed an approval rating of 35 percent and a disapproval rating of 59 percent for President Trump, based on more than 127,000 responses. On 15 September, the figures stood at 34 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval among all respondents. The net approval score on 13 September was minus 24 percentage points among registered voters.

These figures are entirely unrelated to the Dutch CiviQs B.V. The similarity in name is coincidental; the two organisations share no common owners, shareholders, or activities.

Growing demand for AI compliance in the public sector

The position CiviQs B.V. occupies aligns with a broader trend in the Netherlands and across Europe. The EU AI Act sets concrete requirements, differentiated by risk category, for organisations that deploy or develop AI systems. For governments, which frequently handle personal data and make decisions that directly affect citizens, those requirements are far-reaching. Article 4 of the regulation obliges providers and deployers of AI systems to demonstrate AI literacy among their staff, a requirement that many public organisations have yet to meet.

This creates space for specialist providers like CiviQs, which guide governments in translating regulatory requirements into concrete processes and registers. As a participant in the Dutch AI Coalition (AIC4NL), the company also collaborates with other parties focused on responsible AI use in the public sector.

For other founders and investors targeting GovTech and AI compliance, the rise of this type of specialised consultancy is an indication of where market demand lies: not in building the models themselves, but in helping organisations that need to work with those models as regulatory pressure continues to grow.