Second prize winner in category Innovation in Public Administration in EPSA 2023-24
Context
Smart D8, as an initiative, falls within the Digital Health and Well-being Programme of the Digital Hub, which is managed by the Digital Hub Development Agency, a state agency set up by the Irish Government in 2003. The Digital Hub leads a range of initiatives and projects that promote collaboration between local partners in the fields of digital learning, digital arts, healthcare innovation and community development. The other lead partners of the Smart D8 project are the Dublin City Council, Smart Dublin and St James’s Hospital. They are joined by Tyndall National Institute, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Trinity Research & Innovation, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, National College of Art and Design, Guinness Enterprise Centre, Health Innovation Hub Ireland and the HSE in this unique collaborative initiative.
Healthcare is challenged by chronic diseases, ageing populations and unplanned emergencies, with limited resources allocated to people who are already sick. To address this, Smart D8 was created to provide a unique space for local and international innovators to investigate how smart technology and innovation can prospectively bring health and well-being impacts in an urban population. Smart D8 promotes a preventative approach to healthcare through unique cross-sectoral collaborations, thus alleviating pressure on health systems.
Objectives
Smart D8 aims to bring together local government, academia, healthcare, citizens and service providers through cross-sectoral partnerships to promote innovation by matchmaking peoples’ needs with technologies for prospective health and well-being measures. The Smart D8 programme applies a people-centric approach, founded on the participation of the local community of the Dublin 8 district. Thus, the community has been involved from the outset in setting the agenda for the initiative and subsequent pilots. In late 2020 the first Community Survey was launched, both in-person and online, to capture the needs and perspectives of the local community (346 participants), from which priority areas were identified for the formation of the programme. Ten key focus areas, or ‘health pillars’, were identified, from which open calls for pilots draw upon each year to develop and scale innovative approaches and solutions. Three calls for pilot projects were launched in March 2021, 2022 and 2023, resulting in 12 key projects.
Implementation
This initiative is mobilised by the Smart D8 consortium, which was established in October 2020, with the DHDA providing administrative and financial infrastructure for the Smart D8 programme. The consortium consists of partners from local government, national healthcare providers, third-level research institutions, innovators and entrepreneurs, and civil society. The wide range and diversity of its 12 partners is a key differentiator of the initiative, as it provides a unique opportunity to address the challenges of population health and well-being through a ‘whole society’ approach.
After three years of implementation, the Smart D8 project has facilitated the implementation of 12 scalable pilot projects, which address the needs identified by the local community, engaging over 5000 end users. Through its 12 partners, it has created a fertile environment for open collaborative innovation with the participation of the public, private and academic sectors. Moreover, they have attracted over €500 000 in research funding and investment in health and well-being solution development to date. As a result, they have amplified the delivery of health service innovation and given the Dublin 8 community early access to these new technologies and piloted services.
The longevity of the Smart D8 project has been secured by the DHDA, which will provide the space, a dedicated project manager and the lead funding for the project. Furthermore, the consortium partners are co-investing in its future implementation. In its third year, Smart D8 has increased its capacity to expand its scale and scope. Through successful fulfilment of a new role as Enterprise and Learning Coordinator, Smart D8 has significantly increased its capacity in the enterprise and learning domains, as well as community engagement. Smart D8 is also developing specific capabilities through the Ecosystem Manager role with the support of SFI ADAPT Research Centre and Dublin City Council for an engaged research framework to scale piloted innovations — leveraging best practices from their pilot projects. This will support the sustained development of analytical processes to amplify insights into the success of forthcoming health-related innovations before, during and after their implementation.