A start-up process for the design of a multi-sided digital platform for social innovation

A social innovation is a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals. Social innovations come in various forms such as (1) doing something good in/for society; (2) changing social practices and/or structure, (3) contribute to urban and community development and (4) re-organize work processes. In an aging world where life expectancy is steadily increasing and there is decline in the number of children and in total fertility the consequences for the healthcare system and the elder population are significant; therefore, social innovations are needed (in the form of changed social practices) aiming to reduce healthcare costs and improve the life quality of those aging. Smart Homes / Smart Living serve goals of wellbeing of the residents of the home and eldercare among others. Thus, the realization of these goals could be considered as a potential social innovation for eldercare in specific. However, these products and services in this domain are generally unknown by the general public – so potential consumers lack of awareness of the potential benefits that smart home products can help them realize. Thus, a social innovation is proposed in the context of health and wellbeing through the design of a smart living multi-sided digital platform. This platform is a mean to improve the lives of citizens in the context of health and wellbeing, especially for those aging through information access, information exchange around Smart Living products/services, interaction with the relatives/community/neighborhood as well as with caretakers. The focus of a solution in this work is on the group of end-users of elders and voluntary caretakers. From previous research foundational requirements were identified for the platform: 1) an online community for contact, solutions, social wellbeing, interaction with the neighborhood and a digital marketplace for applications; 2) an information exchange platform, between providers and end-users (business to consumer), 3) a portal for bundled, services and solutions (business to consumer) and 4) an intervention instrument for the municipality (government to consumer). Through two workshops and considerable work within the project team 9 requirements and 3 critical issues were identified. The requirements derived were built into a prototype (mockup) which was also built into a clickable model for its evaluation through usability testing with potential end-users. 100% of the participants agreed that they would use or recommend the platform if available and 4 out of 6 participants rated 4 or 5 in a scale of 1 to 5 the user experience of the artifact. Some issues regarding the navigation in two functionalities were pointed for improvement. There was learning of few important points in this design stage: (1) to collect requirements for the artifact and prioritize the critical design issues is key. (2) involve the end-user in the design process to validate and evaluate the artifact from the very beginning is a critical for acceptance (of the prototype), which is pre-condition for acceptance of the final artifact and (3) using familiar patterns when designing a prototype help potential users to feel more acquainted with the artifact. Building on the main outcomes of the design of the artifact section, a survey was prepared to further evaluate the design made- it was sent to 401 voluntary caretakers in the South-Holland province of the Netherlands with a response rate of 38% with an average age of 71 years – thus being a key target group of end users. A total of 7 questions were analyzed trying to understand the potential impact of the platform as well as to see who could potentially benefit among several stakeholders. In terms of who would benefit with the platform, the results suggest that Voluntary caretakers, Volunteers, People with physical disabilities and the Municipality would strongly benefit from the platform. Whereas Product providers, General Citizens, Service providers, People with mental disabilities, Young elderly (55 - 75 years old) and Elderly (75+) would somehow benefit from the platform. Two questions in the survey were asked to explore a set of features that could help validate certain design options that were considered to be important by the design team. With the new requirements derived and results of the usability test the following mockup was constructed as an updated version that emerged from the previous one. In the survey the first mockup was shown to the voluntary caretakers and then they were asked the question ‘the platform would help me with? ’. A total of 14 potential benefits (capabilities) were presented to the respondents to be scored from 1 to 7 in terms of much the platform could help. After a dimension reduction using a statistical method (Principal Components Analysis), according to the caretakers’ answers, the artifact’s main impact is on two capabilities namely (1) socially inclusive active aging and (2) independent and comfortable aging in place. Based on the findings and the knowledge drawn from the entire process the suggested main outcome is the following set of principles/steps for starting –up the design of digital platforms for social innovation: Stating the problem in terms of a capabilities gap Tapping on / setting-up a living lab Involve the end user at every single stage of the process Elicit requirements and prioritize critical design issues throughout Use familiar patterns in the design of the artifact's interface Evaluate the artifact through usability testing Evaluate the artifact through its capabilities