1 The Danish PWT Foundation – strategic investments in Public Welfare Technology Stakeholders Consultation Conference European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing Thomas Børner, Chairman of the PWT Foundation Danish Ministry of Finance

2 We face serious challenges in the public sector! -Demographic challenges -Recruitment challenges 25% of public sector employees will retire within the next 6-7 years (and become new users of public services) -Growing expectations to the public service levels from citizens -Strained public resources The double demographic challenge

3 What is the PWT Foundation? - Looking for intelligent solutions The PWT Foundation – invests in Public Welfare Technology and ICT in order to promote efficiency, productivity, and innovation in the public sector (i.e. save time and costs) The Ministry of Finance distributes 400 mill. Euro in Focus: test and proliferate ICT, new assistive technologies and new ways of working in the public sector In perspective – what other countries would have to invest to match this:

4 How the PWT Foundation works We fund local and national projects that enable public services to meet increasing demands with fewer resources Criteria: > Potential for higher productivity and service improvements - Demonstrate & document labour-saving potential I.e.: positive business case – must make the public sector more efficient (Free up time for public employees) > Potential for proliferation - Solutions must be generic - can be copied by others (nationally) > Innovation - test new products, services, ways of working, collaborations (across sectors, public-private collaboration…) - business potential (new markets, export possibilities etc.)

5 Co-funding of projects in all areas of the public sector > Telemedicine > Care of the elderly* > Labour-saving technologies, rehabilitation equipment and devices in care and health sectors > Service robots and automatic solutions > ICT e-Government and administration > And more… * Organised at a local, municipal level (not via hospitals)

6 The trick of the PWT Foundation >The PWT Foundation monitors the projects focusing on labour-saving potential, efficiency and service improvement. >When a project has proved a positive business case/benefit realization, the initiative can be mainstreamed and implemented nationally – with the possibility for funding from the PWT Foundation -> proliferation of best practice!

7 Evaluation of PWT foundation projects Evaluation of project must include: > Labour-saving effect (public employees) > Assessment of costs and ROI > Other economic effects (e.g. operating costs) > Qualitative targets (perceived service/quality: employees & end users) > Other socio-economic effects > Maturity of technology > Barriers and preconditions for proliferation (e.g. legal barriers?) > Assessment of risks > Anchoring results and capitalizing the effects

8 Why don’t they just do it? Barriers to innovation and implementation among service providing units: > Focus is service and care production, not innovation > Scarce economy, scarce resources > Limited capacity and incentive to fund projects and take risks > Silo: focus, finance, knowledge of new solutions etc. > Solutions have impact across sectors – who gains from the project? > New solutions require changes in the organisations and work processes (often across sectors) Innovation must be nursed and focused on practical implementation and benefit realisation among end-users (both citizens and employees)

9 Tendencies and priorities Currently 69 funded projects - 67 local projects - 2 national projects Moving ahead - Orientation towards larger projects & knowledge sharing - We don’t want to create little islands of expertise and isolated solutions. Instead we want to support larger solutions across sectors and shared infrastructures - We want to contribute to mapping and identifying areas where we as a society can organize ourselves smarter

10 Key learnings and new opportunities A dedicated programme on a national level can: > gather the best new ideas and projects, fund them, evaluate them and communicate key learning points to all involved partners > coordinate and help facilitate sharing of knowledge between different initiatives (e.g. in different parts of the public sector) > generate synergy effects and reap benefits on a larger scale. >Access to the right decision-making arenas on a national level is a key to success. The best solutions must become more than good examples – they need to be implemented on a greater scale as soon as the evidence is gathered and a viable business case can be established. > By linking budgets on a national level with the use of new technologies and more efficient ways of working, the state will be able to steer the development of the public sector in a clear direction.