Digital Agenda Funding

Project Status: Completed

Project Leader: Jose Manuel San Emeterio

EU Programme: Northern Periphery and Arctic (2014-2020)

Project Budget: €153,846

Start Date: Oct, 2020

Finish Date: Mar, 2022

Project Website: https://distinct.interreg-npa.eu/

The aim of the project is to:

Support three NPA regions to achieve significantly enhanced capacity to deliver future-proof viable public services using disruptive technologies as a result of increased awareness, preparedness and innovation planning

Specific objectives are to:

Prepare public authorities for the adoption of disruptive technologies for public services delivery
Assess the potential of NPA area's centres of innovation and applied research in disruptive technologies
Catalyse the uptake of disruptive technologies in public services provision

Donegal, Ireland
ERNACT Network(Lead Partner)
Project and finance management, communication and dissemination activities.

Jose Manuel San Emeterio
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Iceland, Iceland
City of Reykjavik(Associate)
Input in the disruptive technologies assessment by collecting information from Iceland on the potential use of disruptiv

Magnus Yngvi Josefsson
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Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador(Associate)
Collecting information from Newfoundland and Labrador on the potential use of disruptive technologies.

Randy Follett
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North Karelia, Finland

Karelia University of Applied Sciences (Partner)
Contributing to all activities, KUAS will lead the development of the disruptive technologies pilot/demonstrator.

Timo Rui

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Västerbotten, Sweden

Umeå University (Partner)
UMU will utilise their research capacity in innovative business development and digitalization in public sector.

Mikael Söderström

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Foresight Analysis Report
NPA Disruptive Technologies Capacity Evaluation Report
Three Disruptive Technologies Demonstration Sessions
Three Implementation Roadmaps
Best Practices Recommendation Report

The ERNACT regions focus on adapting and transferring services, approaches or digital knowhow between regions. Please examine the following table to see a list of specific items transferred over the past few years

Disruptive technologies implementation plan in Donegal

Donegal - ERNACT Network

Directed at public authorities, this is a plan whose purpose is to provide guidance to Donegal County Council on how to introduce disruptive technologies into their services provision. It is a digital transformation initiative and it is innovative because involves...

Directed at public authorities, this is a plan whose purpose is to provide guidance to Donegal County Council on how...

Disruptive technologies implementation plan in North Karelia

North Karelia - Karelia University of Applied Sciences

Directed at public authorities, this is a plan whose purpose is to provide guidance to Karelia County Council on how to introduce disruptive technologies into their services provision. It is a digital transformation initiative and it is innovative because involves the...

Directed at public authorities, this is a plan whose purpose is to provide guidance to Karelia County Council on how to...

Disruptive technologies implementation plan in Västerbotten

Västerbotten - Umeå University

Directed at public authorities, this is a plan whose purpose is to provide guidance to County Administrative Board of Västerbotten County on how to introduce disruptive technologies into their services provision. It is a digital transformation initiative and...

Directed at public authorities, this is a plan whose purpose is to provide guidance to County Administrative Board of...

Disruptive technologies capacity in the NPA

Donegal - ERNACT Network

This is a good practice directed at public authorities. It is an initiative whose purpose is to map the existing knowledge capacity and application of disruptive technologies in public sector services in the NPA. It is innovative because it gathers the latest...

This is a good practice directed at public authorities. It is an initiative whose purpose is to map the existing...

This project explores the practical application of Disruptive Technologies in public service provision. This includes use of Virtual Reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain in health and social care, environmental management and training.

Successful application can save costs, increase viability, improve use of scarce human resources, span distances and improve decision making. However, the small number and concentration of disruptive technology research and innovation centres, allied with low levels of awareness, present serious blockages to realising this improvement. The approach of DISTINCT is to work on a transnational axis, producing discrete outputs to overcome these blockages and challenges, i.e:

1. Use technology foresight techniques and structured engagement with public sector and research/innovation workers to estimate demand and identify applications, models and solutions.

2. Deploy demonstrators and develop disruptive technology rollout roadmaps to build awareness, confidence and implementation knowledge in distinct public sector areas (environment, health/social care and training).

3. Document existing disruptive technology centres of capacity and best practice options to improve innovation and diffusion.

This will drive achievement of the project’s main result, i.e, 3 NPA regions with significantly enhanced capacity to deliver future-proof viable public services using disruptive technologiesnnand contribute to the NPA Programme result for Priority Axis 1- Innovation.

The project brings together 3 main partners (university/public sector) from Finland, Ireland, Sweden with associate partners from Iceland and Canada.