DigitalWell Arena
In Värmland, a long-standing and strong regional cooperation between the public sector, academia and business has provided targeted investment in service innovation and the digitisation of welfare services.
Since 2015, this work has taken place within the framework of Värmland's research and innovation strategy for Smart Specialisation, under the specialisation area ’Digitisation of Welfare Services’. Ongoing large collaborative projects, such as Digital Well and Digital Well Research, are examples of these regional investments. Now the actors involved in the DigitalWell Arena want to build on the success of the work in this area to date. The inclusion of Vinnväxt provides an opportunity to develop a national resource for competence on co-creating digitised and equitable welfare solutions.
ROLE IN THE INITIATIVE
Throughout its history, Karlstad University (KAU) has taken an active role in regional development. Through its educational programmes, the university has been an important player in the supply of skills for the region's public and private sectors. The educational areas that have been focused on are teacher training, healthcare, finance and engineering. The research activities linked to these areas are important for a range of actors, both nationally and internationally.
The regional cooperation between KAU and the public and private sectors has been both structured and intensified based on an OECD evaluation conducted in Värmland during 2005–06. One consequence of the evaluation was a series of declarations of intent on research and innovation collaboration between KAU and Region Värmland. The current declaration of intent on research and innovation cooperation – the Academy for Smart Specialisation – connects the Värmland development strategy based on the EU's model for Smart Specialisation with the university's strategy and long-term ambitions.
MOTIVE FOR LONG-TERM COMMITMENT
Through the Vinnväxt initiative, KAU is able to contribute, in a strategic and long-term way, to meeting the major societal challenges facing healthcare. Through this initiative, the university continues its development of research, innovation and educational activities in a direction that is in line with the university's strategy, both in terms of the content of the activities and also with regard to working methods and positioning. Through this investment, the university will continue to be able to create valuable synergies between international projects (e.g. Horizon and its successors), and national projects and initiatives with regional development with both public and private actors.
KAU has an active and driving role in the Digitisation of Welfare Services. Six of the university’s research groups are currently involved:
Computer Science (DV)
An internationally-leading research group of c. 60 staff with a large number of European projects (Horizon) within their prioritised areas: data security, data communication and program development. Through cross-border research between the three research areas, as well as joint projects with external parties from academia, industry and the public sector, DV contributes to tomorrow's technology and society.
Centre for Service Research (CTF)
CTF consists of c. 70 staff who conduct international, cutting-edge research. CTF’s focus is on value-creating processes for users, experiences of organisations' offerings, innovation and the adoption of new offerings, management and service ecosystems. With value-creating processes, CTF refers to the effects that arise in the meeting between an organisation and a user in the form of a customer, citizen or patient.
Nursing (OMV)
Research in Nursing (OMV) focuses on models and innovations for secure care and is directed towards the experiences of patients, as well as those close to them. Interventions are developed with the care recipients' and relatives' needs and preferences in close cooperation with the health care system.
Centre for Gender Research (CGF)
CGF focuses on gender, health and technology and is part of the international research college GEXcel, a world-leading centre in gender research, with a particular focus on gender and equality integration.
Fou Welfare Värmland
Fou Welfare Värmland's mission is to support the knowledge-based work of social services. It is based on an interaction between research, development work and knowledge dissemination. The activities are aimed at all working areas of social services, including care for the elderly, LSS and individual and family care.
Centre for Research on the Mental Health and Life Circumstances of Children and Youth (CBU)
CBU is a multidisciplinary research environment, with competencies from psychology, social work, public health science, nursing and pedagogy. The research concerns children and young people from birth to the age of 20.
KAU Grants and Innovation Office (GIO)
GIO's mission is to support research and innovation collaborations between the university and actors in both the public and private sectors. In addition to the development of research through collaboration with these groups, a further goal is the development of KAU’s education programmes, at all levels, in step with the research activities of the environments detailed above. The intention is also that new and existing commissioned training in these areas can be offered to business and the public sector.