How can digital technology contribute to strengthening health promotion work in schools? Digitalwell Arena, Scaaler IoT Labs and Karlstad University will find out together with Arvika municipality, where a newly built junior high school will be the test environment.
According to a report from the Public Health Agency, school is the biggest factor in teenagers' increasing mental illness. In combination with a complex labor market, school is a contributory cause of stress and ill-health, the problems are more widespread among girls, but the increase has been just as great among boys as well.
IoT Sweden has now granted a project to develop and test how IoT technology (Internet of Things) can create insights and innovative solutions about how data can prevent ill health in schools. The aim is that the application of IoT technology should be able to contribute to methods to strengthen students' health, thus increase learning and contribute to creating the conditions for a better life.
Two-year investment
Arvika municipality is the principal of the two-year investment, which begins in March 2021. DigitalWell Arena, Karlstad University and Scaaler IoT Labs, an Arvika-based IoT cluster with around 30 member companies, also participate in the project.
The new high school being built in central Arvika will be a test environment where companies and entrepreneurs will be able to test IoT technology in a real environment. The data collected will be analyzed by both researchers at Karlstad University and Arvika's student health.
Christian Persman is development manager for Arvika's schools and project manager for the IoT project. He thinks that an interesting possibility is to be able to pick up both physical and psychosocial problems in the school environment more quickly via data collection.
- We have a clear focus on letting well-being be the entrance to learning, if you feel good, you also perform better. Today we have student health interviews and a well-being survey once a year. Of course, the teachers have a constant dialogue with the students, but it is not systematized and we have no data on it. With digital technology, we could receive data more often, which provides a more accurate basis, says Christian Persman.
- We want to implement measures and prevent mental illness as quickly as possible - we really need that.
Christian Persman also hopes that the project can contribute to creating a working model where the school gets better at cooperating with the business world, in order to absorb new knowledge.
Open to new collaborations
Exactly what kind of products and services will be tested is an open question. The focus is on creating a test environment where business, academia and the public sector can meet.
- Collaborating in a real environment around a real challenge creates joint learning, which contributes to insights into how we can use existing technology in new ways, says Marie Granander, process manager at DigitalWell Arena.
The range of IoT technologies is large, and the number of connected devices is increasing rapidly. Robert Rhönnstad, senior consultant in IT architecture and one of the founders of Scaaler IoT Labs, believes that the interest in the new test environment will be great.
- The technology is not really the big problem, but the ethical challenge. We hope that a controlled test environment allows us to apply technology, which would not otherwise be possible. A desirable situation would be to collect data on the perceived stress of both teachers and students, says Robert Rhönnstad.
Swegon with from the start
Also involved from the start is Swegon AB, which specializes in solutions for indoor climates. Among other things, they will set up equipment for collecting data on air quality, attendance levels and temperatures and assist with expertise on how the indoor climate affects students' health and study results
IoT Sweden – one of 17 strategic innovation programs
IoT Sweden is a program that supports and funds innovative IoT projects across the country. The main goal of the program is to find solutions to common challenges, especially in the public sector. The basic idea is to contribute to a better life and better welfare for all of Sweden's residents. IoT Sweden one of 17 strategic innovation programs in Sweden that are financed by Vinnova, the Energy Agency and Forma.
