Our aim has been to find good examples of experiences from projects that show how welfare technology is driven in practice, in this way helping to increase awareness of the opportunities available and simultaneously facilitate successful processes for new projects.
The results are based on experiences obtained from six cases, in terms of project examples in Norwegian municipalities. The six case studies are selected from several criteria, and represents the width in terms of relevant welfare technological experiences. Several possible cases were considered and discussed with the client before the final case was selected. The six case studies are provided by Stavanger, Randaberg, Lyngdal, Drammen, Bærum, Vågå, and Nøtterøy.
Our experiences from the case studies show that the introduction of welfare technology must be fixed at different levels in the municipal organization to succeed. It is necessary to include all stakeholders early in the process, both users, carers, municipal employees and suppliers. It is also important to define clearly what you want to achieve with the welfare technology, and ensure that all participants understand the purpose. Furthermore, it is important to create good communication among all stakeholders both within and outside the municipality. It is important to be aware that different actors have different starting points, traditions, knowledge and expertise. Experience shows that users' needs should be the basis for the success of adopting welfare technology. Therefore it is necessary to have a good overview of the needs and resources. It is also important early in the process to obtain an overview of the various products' capabilities and limitations.
"Roadmap for welfare technology" is a tool for anyone working with welfare technology in local government or are interested in the topic. The roadmap provides guidance in how welfare technology projects can be powered up in practice and will guide you from the beginning, through testing and adaptation, to the user and new practices in your municipality.