Digital Leaders North East 2014 Review

Digital Leaders North East Annual Review 2014

APRILWhat makes for an employable graduate?

Michael RydingDirector of DigitalCity, Teesside

CHALLENGES FROM THE SALON

• Why are graduates not ‘industry-ready’?

• How is the curriculum aligned with business needs?

• Why are there so few skilled digital graduates?

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS FROM THE SALON

• What does industry ready mean?• Does it mean ‘trained-up’?• Does it mean team working skills? • Does it mean realistic expectations?

• How to align the curriculum• Industry panels?• Placements?• Internships?

• Addressing the skills shortage• Wrong skills• Pipeline

SOLUTIONS FROM THE SALON

• We need to start long before the graduate stage and support secondary schools with industry visits, skills enhancement and digital clubs

• We need to make industry placements a compulsory part of degrees

• We need to get involved with curriculum development

• We need to consider other forms of qualifications

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

• Created a new talent event and reworked one other

• Became involved in Higher Apprenticeships

• Continued working with secondary school teachers

• Fed into new course development in specific subjects

• Added Internships to our Computing masters degrees

JUNEDigital Government and Business Support

Rob WilsonCentre for Knowledge Innovation Technology and Enterprise (KITE)

WHO AM I?

• Professor at Newcastle University

• Director of KITE URC

• Started out as a Researcher in Health Informatics in the Medical Sciences Faculty at Newcastle University

• Since then interests in Public Service management; Partnership/Inter-Organisational working

OUR RESEARCH PROGRAMME

• 20 year programme of research and development into multi-agency working

• Research into a range of complex or ‘wicked’ problem areas (inc sustainability, health and social care)

• And student experience, university information systems

• Most recently working with the NELEP as a ‘critical friend’ to the Growth Hub procurement

Multi-faceted complex problem

THE PROCESS

Business Support

SalonIssues

Needs This Workshop/ Living Lab

Priorities for the LEP

An Architectural Framework

We need to make this explicit if we are to be clear about the implications of the

priorities and recommendations.

SMALL BUSINESS & GOVERNMENTTHE RICHARD REPORT (2008)

• [Information] centres should be rolled out across the country, delivered by major libraries and leading universities … that have the proven competence to deliver expert information services, providing depth behind the web-based service.

• Central to the BIS would be a system of online customer feedback and Buyer and Seller grading and rating, as used by millions of consumers every day on e-bay…replacing unaccountable and intermittent accreditation by Government.

• We propose the whole regional business support apparatus of RDAs and Business Links should be replaced by a single, web-based Business Information Service.

• The regionalisation of Business Link has removed both the advantage of local governance and the efficiency and impartiality of central Government.

• …business support policy needs to clearly reflect the difference between providing information and expert advice or support.


Fragmentation

Overload

Accessibility

Stability Digital

Peer to peer

Generic/ customised

Infrastructure

InformationBusiness Support

Services

Platform

Trust

Government

Local

Commercial

Professional

Peer Networks

Central


Local Businesses

BIS

Demands onSystems, resources and

practice New guidance

& targets

CBI

IoD

InnovateUK

LEPs, Local Gov, VCS, Local BIS, Unis

Business Support in an organisational aquarium

OUTCOMES OF THE SALON:

Sustainable Diversity– Specialisation and Targeting

Dependable Governance– Identity, provenance and recourse

Effective Curation– Brokerage and Intermediation

Relevant, personalised and accessible services.

TRUSTWORTHY INFORMATION

Identity: knowing who individuals and agencies are.

Provenance: knowing the source of any item of information.

Recourse: having somewhere to go to correct mistakes or unfairness.

These can be delivered by an appropriate Information infrastructure

Relevant, personalised and accessible services

This implies a support hub:

A safe space for encounter, discovery, conversation and transaction.

Actors can be reliably recognised.

All content has clear provenance.

There is a clear point of recourse.

Sustainable Diversity

Dependable Governance

Effective Curation

Policy Makers

Government Department Programmes and Initiatives

Business Support Hub

Business Support Services Providers

Review & Evaluation

Other B2B services

Public Procurement Markets

Commercial MarketsExport Markets

Business Support Services User

DBIS DCLG DECDWP

Other Hubs

User CommunitiesCurator -

Broker

Publications of Offers & Information

Governance& Governors

WHAT NEXT?

• Tendering process has started

• Aim to ‘go live’ in April

• We have served as ‘Critical Friends’ to the process so far

[email protected]

JULYAgeing population:The role of assistive technology?

Charles Sellers Vantage Point Technologies


• The NHS is faced with growing financial restraints, recent years have seen a marked increase in telecareand telehealth services, using technology to help individuals live more independently at home.

• Identifying what exactly needs to be provided

• Deciding on and locating who is best suited to the provision of assistive technology

• Understand how to encourage SME engagement

• Locating where assistive technology can have the best impact

• Risk aversion


• How can the use of assistive technology improve an elderly person’s life?

• What are the barriers to elderly people using digital technology?

• What are the barriers when procuring assistive technologies in the public sector?

• Are the NHS and other care providers equipped with the right digital skills?

• What steps should be taken to speed up its adoption?


• Development from a human perspective, rather than a strategic attempt to secure commissioning

• Locate where assistive technology can have the best impact for the most and least debilitated individuals – a mistake to treat both challenges with same solutions

• Encourage SME engagement with public sector – at present there is no incentive to look outside the private sector


• More discussion was needed – the salon had highlighted a lot of challenges, but few solutions

• Newcastle University Institute of Ageing hosted a workshop representing different sectors

• White paper produced and published in September 2014

• 7 key recommendations produced

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Ensure that standards of evidence required by the CCG are clearly provided and adequately signposted online.

2. Promote the adoption of new patient-centric technologies, as opposed to clinicians looking for reasons why care pathways should stay as they are.

3. The Academic Health Science Network ought to reach out beyond the NHS and academics to SMEs.

4. The NHS should corral and share themed data-sets, and make these available to SMEs online, so that they may explore open innovation opportunities

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

5. The NHS must simplify its engagement and procurement processes if they are to be opened up to the wider SME community

6. The NHS should use the SBRI and similar channels to connect the challenges associated with assistive technology to the network of SMEs that have the potential to provide solutions.

7. It is crucial that the Department of Health and the NHS provides clearer strategic leadership and direction which seeks to achieve earlier and more open innovation channels in partnerships between NHS commissioners and SME developers.

SEPTEMBERHow can rural tourism businesses In the North East better embrace technology to help improve the visitor experience?

Charles SellersVantage Point Technologies


• Diversity of the Tourism Sector• Northumberland, Durham, Tees Valley

• Diversity of Support

• Online Booking sites


• Educating the Industry

• Educating the Customer

• Fragmented Rural Tourism Industry

• Digital Adoption, Digital Inclusion


• Digital booking services: An opportunity, or a threat?• Major discussion point.• Accepting the problem allows for the provision of a

solution.• Currently a threat – future opportunity?

• Educating the industry• Sector AND Customers = Strategy

• “Joining up” the fragmented rural tourism industry


• Ongoing!

• Need - Co-ordinated Strategy

• Need - Co-ordinate the Industry – fragmented

• Need – Go with those that will & have adopted Digital Technology

• Need – Awareness Programme – Training/Education

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

• Blog produced and circulated

• Topic referred back to Leadership Group

• Blog content submitted as part of a successful bid for regional funding from central government

OCTOBERWill “Federated Identity” services help Transform communications and trusted relationships between the Public Sector and UK Citizens and Businesses?

Dr Alastair IronsSunderland University


• Purpose of salon in October was to discuss whether “federated identity” services would help to transform communication between the public sector and businesses

• Whilst the salon covered the benefits of federated identity services and the potential to transform communication the debate moved to a broader range of discussion topics including reservations and risks associated with federated identity

• Moved onto questions about limited adoption to date and the broadened the discussion to include issues around trust, trustworthiness, cybersecurity and digital forensics in the context of federated identity


• Federated identity is the ability to establish trust relationships between various systems to enable the passing of a person’s electronic identity through authentication, authorization and privacy assertions.

• Not to be confused with Single Sign On (SSO) – this refers only to user authentication and as such is a subset of federated identity.

• Idea behind federated identity is to provide an easier and more efficient service for users by joining up and linking services.


• Salon explored the opportunities afforded by federated identity as well as the potential risks and concerns around trust and ethical use of data.

• Work done by the Cloud Innovation Centre in Newcastle given as an example of data sharing where federated identity can be tested.


• Desire to understand, utilise and exploit the opportunities provided by federated identity in a safe and secure environment

• Examine in detail the activities undertaken by the likes of VISA (as a neutral but trusted enabler) and Amazon (as a neutral broker in the retail environment)

• Examine the issues in federating identity for example in in the provenance of data, the management of sensitive information and the trustworthiness of federated identity management systems


• Develop strategies for sharing federated data from public sector to private sector is a safe and secure manner

• Clarify restrictions on data sharing – for example NHS records

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

• DLNE blog to summarise

• Willingness of participants to get involved in further research / discussions

• Participants in the salon joined trial of a new discussion platform – Ambix

• Feed into regional work on cybersecurity

• Trying to identify opportunities for funding to take issues forward

NOVEMBERLloyds Digital Business Index:Do small businesses need a digital strategy in a digital age?

Marianne WhitfieldCOBWEB Information


• Report highlights the digital divide that is evident throughout the UK small business sector

• Marked differences between the attitudes of innovators and adopters

• Education and the development of digital skills is important but digital inclusion is resource intensive

• Laziness/comfort factor is evident in the research


• Importance of context – what business benefits result from better use of digital solutions?

• Omnipresence of 'digital' – explosion in use of 'personal' technology

• Cultural differences between work and personal life

• Government policies have been around provision of connectivity – but once a business has access, what do they do with it?


Digital transformation+

Digital education+

Digital inclusion+

Digital adoption=

Digital application

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

• More discussion is needed – and more promotion of the benefits of digital solutions

• Role for Digital Leaders as advocates of digital technologies

• More signposting is required – business owners don't know what they don't know

• Acceptance that some people will never change?