The strategic work area for DigitalWell Arena is under development. Right now, an initiative is underway to create a completely new working group focused on data collection and data infrastructure.
A first meeting to explore the possibilities of the new work area was held at Karlstad Innovation Park at the end of November. The starting point was the question of how the use and collection of data can help DigitalWell Arena succeed in its mission and target image. At the meeting, expertise from both academia, business and the public had gathered to give their views on opportunities and challenges.
- The prerequisites for DigitalWell Arena's work in driving development for a healthy society need a platform where it is possible to share data between individuals, suppliers, authorities and companies as part of the innovation work, says Cecilia Karlsson, process manager for DigitalWell Arena.
The day gave rise to many interesting discussions. Among other things, about who should be included in the new working group, what type of data is available and is relevant. A key issue that was also raised was the possible need to build an own platform to manage data within the DigitalWell Arena.
The meeting resulted in a decision to start a feasibility study early next year to dig deeper into the subject, with the aim of creating a new strategic work area for data infrastructure within the DigitalWell Arena.
DigitalWell Arena has already been divided into five strategic work areas, which you can read more about here.
As an introduction to the gathering, Anders Ekholm, coach in DigitalWell Arena and senior advisor at the Institute for Future Studies, gave an inspirational lecture. An important question was how to manage a complicated system compared to a complex one. A complicated system can be analyzed, and there we can often find a "best practice". But many of the systems we have to deal with today are complex, for example care, school and welfare, and there we don't really know which measures are correct until afterwards.
- Complicated things, such as taxation, work very well in Sweden. But at the same time there are demands from residents and politicians that we should also be able to deal with more complex and serious social problems, such as global warming, said Anders Ekholm, as a vivid example of the problem.
Nor can a complex system be organized according to any given best method. But we try to do as usual and in meetings and with different coordinators solve these problems. This is also clearly visible in the employment statistics, the number of managers and administrators in the public sector increased by 50 percent between 2001 and 2013.
Instead, Anders Ekholm, who previously worked as head of analysis at the Ministry of Social Affairs, believes that it is about building an infrastructure for the "biological society" where flowing data from all corners of life and the world is collected. It also means an increased understanding of complex problems - and that we develop new methods to deal with them, such as various simulations, AI and Machine learning.
