Kalasatama is undergoing a transformation to become the smartest district in Helsinki. The first four innovations have been piloted during spring 2016. The next round of agile pilots introduces Auntie Solutions and KuntoKaverit. The pilots will start next autumn. These innovative services utilize technology and enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of citizens. The new pilots were chosen among 37 offers.
Smart Kalasatama’s agile pilots develop new smart local services for citizens with the residents in Kalasatama. The Programme for Agile Piloting helps to accelerate new concepts into service innovations and new business. The first round of pilots has been running during spring 2016. The second round of agile pilots focuses on new local wellbeing services and is run in collaboration with the City of Helsinki Department of Social Services and Health Care. The pilots will be carried out during autumn 2016. 37 offers were submitted altogether.
KuntoKaverit aims to increase physical activity, exercise and participation of elderly by combining peer coaching and technology. The pilot will be executed by Kuntoutussäätiö and Movendos. The service will be developed further during the piloting with the residents of Kalasatama.
Auntie Solutions aims to prevent serious mental problems by easy access tools and help to tackle most common life crisis. In Kalasatama, Auntie experiments with different service packages for gaining understanding on user experience and the effectivity of different digital channels.
“The solutions should improve the accessibility and coverage of social and health care services, and widen the current service offering. As a result from these pilots, we wish to learn how new innovative services can be developed for the health and wellbeing centres of the future”, says Lars Rosengren from the City of Helsinki Department of Social Services and Health Care.
A new health and wellbeing centre will be opened at Kalasatama in 2018. Spaces and services are under development.
License to test
Starting small can lead to something bigger. Programme for Agile Piloting is buying small pilots (1000–8000 euros) that provide new innovative services for people living in the Kalasatama area. New services are tested with residents and local companies.
“The aim is to bring smart services that make everyday life easier. Agile piloting enables participation of residents and companies in co-creation process of services of the future. We have workshops to innovate ideas, to create models of cooperation or to gain deeper user insight”, says Kaisa Spilling, the Development Manager of Programme for Agile Piloting.
The first round of agile piloting started last autumn. Pilots were related to smart mobility services, effective waste management, reducing food waste and co-creating local services. Nifty Neighbour –one of the services, that were piloted during spring – also fits into the category of local wellbeing services as it has brought together people offering assistance with those in need of it. Nifty Neighbour has gained many new users during the pilot and the service is used actively among the residents of Kalasatama after the pilot.
New business opportunities
Programme for Agile Piloting promotes new urban services and business
development. Pilots are executed agile and fast, and the aim is to learn by practice. Companies have the opportunity to gather genuine user experiences already on the early stages of the development, and use it for their service development.
“Smart Kalasatama is a living lab for the smart and comfortable urban life of the future. Programme for Agile Pilots accelerates the development of smart services by enabling companies to bring prototypes into real test environment. Pilots build Smart Kalasatama and can benefit companies, and the entire city”, says Veera Mustonen, the Head of Smart Kalasatama.
New innovative practises
A new health and wellbeing centre will be opened to Kalasatama in 2018. It will be significant in terms of customer base and physical size. The spaces and services are currently under design and development, and agile piloting is strongly connected to the process already in the early stages. Customers with their diverse needs are at the core of the development. The earlier the customers are involved in the service design, the better the results will be.
“We got many excellent offers to the programme that were related to current themes. During the next few years we will develop and pilot health and wellbeing services in collaboration with companies and users”, says Lars Rosengren, who steers the development project for the new health and wellbeing centre in Kalasatama.