Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Northern Periphery and Arctic

Date of latest update: 2025-09-24

Description

Description (EN):

Public sector organisations in the NPA area acknowledge the importance of introducing innovations to meet the increasing demand from their communities to get quality and sustainable services. However, these areas are in a disadvantageous position due to the challenges identified in the Programme area such as increasing demand of an ageing population, the unit cost of service provision to small and diminishing populations over large distances and the skills gap in the shift to digital solutions. Feedback received from public sector staff states that an effective way to overcome these challenges could be to specify, select and implement quick win initiatives by testing disruptive innovations that address repeating problems in public sector service areas. INNOCAP’s overall objective is to provide enhanced quality and sustainable public services by enabling public sector organisations to lead the adoption of disruptive innovations and digital technologies. A key output will be a capacity building programme that will prepare public sector organizations from the 3 NPA geographical zones to pilot and further adopt 4 disruptive public services – the other main outputs of the project- in key areas such as climate change action, environmental management or the digital and green transition. This will benefit at least 120 users from the main target groups of the project, who are the public sector staff in charge of the management and delivery of public services in their territories and the final users of these services. The utilised approach combines ambitiously very different dimensions. This integral and pragmatic approach, combined with disruptive innovation characteristics, requires transnational cooperation to meet the project’s ambitions that otherwise would be impossible for an individual organisation or a region to address them sufficiently and in the extent planned in INNOCAP. The project brings together 8 partners from the 3 NPA geographical zones and Canada.

Actual Achievements (EN):

This first reporting period has served to launch the project, setting up all the management and communication structures supporting other activities and seeking for a correct implementation and monitoring of the actions planned in the project. The partnership’s work have focused in 2 key activities that will serve as the basis for the definition of the capacity building programme, one of the key elements of INNOCAP. These 2 activities have consisted in the preparation of: 1) Needs Analysis report; 2) Disruptive Innovation Knowledge map. Their consecution has led into the definition of the modules of the capacity building programme (starting in the next period) in a way that is meaningful and responsive to the needs of the participating region and also making use of the innovation knowledge available in the area. The second reporting period has served to expose the INNOCAP partners and stakeholders to a range of disruptive innovations through a series of focused sessions of the capacity building programme. The thematic of those sessions was selected using the findings of the previous work done with the preparation of the Needs Analysis report and the Disruptive Innovation Knowledge map. This is allowing them to have a better understanding of the possibilities that a different range of disruptive technologies can offer for them to implement the 4 planned services. Based on the knowledge acquired in the sessions, the partners are starting to devise the supporting technologies they will select in the implementation of their services and which include: 1) Building a digital innovation platform (Västernorrland, Sweden) using participatory web portals; 2) Waste data hub (South Iceland) making use of IoT and data dashboards; 3) Social innovation led service for decision-making on digital and green transition (South Savo, Finland) using visualisation GIS tools and; 4) Climate change action monitoring (Donegal, Ireland) using IoT for flood prevention. This reporting period has served to conclude the capacity building programme enabling the partners and their stakeholders to define and start the development of the pilot services planned in the programme. The capacity building programme initiated in the previous period started with a wider focus where partners were exposed to a range of technologies with potential application into the service cases identified. This allowed partners to identify those technologies more suitable to their cases. In this period the capacity building programme consisted in more focused sessions on those technologies selected by partners. This led into a natural process where the latest sessions were used to start the definition of the pilots. At the end of the period, the following services have been defined: 1) Building a digital innovation platform (Västernorrland, Sweden) using participatory web portals; 2) Waste data hub (South Iceland) making use of IoT and data dashboards; 3) Social innovation led service for decision-making on digital and green transition (South Savo, Finland) using visualisation GIS tools; 4) Climate change action monitoring (Donegal, Ireland) using IoT for flood prevention. This reporting period has mainly served to progress the development of the pilot services planned in the project. When developing the services, the partners have involved their stakeholders and made use of the capacity building programme delivered earlier in the project. The following summarises the different services and its status of development at the end of period 4 (December 2024): 1) Building a digital innovation platform (Västernorrland, Sweden): A digital innovation platform is under development by ALAV in collaboration with Örnsköldsvik municipality to empower municipal employees to develop, share, and grow ideas that address work-related, societal, and efficiency challenges—enhancing the quality of service delivery to citizens. This pilot integrates advanced AI throughout the innovation process—from idea generation and co-design to case management and service delivery—offering support to employees at every stage. Key components include innovation coaches trained in service design and innovation methods, as well as digital coaches skilled in disruptive technologies like VR and AI-assisted chatbots. This forward-looking initiative will enable a collaborative, AI-supported environment where staff can actively contribute to service improvements, ultimately enhancing both employee experiences and the quality of municipal services. The platform is expected to be ready by the end of March 2025. 2) Waste data hub (South Iceland). a data platform "Waste data hub" is being finalised, where the goal is to develop monitoring and control tools for municipalities, intended for them to monitor and make strategic decisions based on waste issues. The Waste data hub works with all waste categories within municipalities, measuring quantity and cost figures. The municipalities can then assess where they stand in different waste categories based on the goals and conditions of the EU. Decisions on incentives, services, education, or levies on service users (inhabitants, institutions, and companies) can then be made based on the situation at any given time and the results of those decisions can be analyzed as a result. The pilot intends to establish a service to create a knowledge center which will have an active role in educating the relevant staff of each municipality, students, businesses and the public in waste management. The pilot will be ready in March 2025 and it is planned to work with existing data from 3 municipalities and input in the solution to create the dashboards. SAAS will then present the solution and ask for the buy-in of the municipalities. 3)Social innovation led service for decision-making on digital and green transition (South Savo, Finland): This service is aimed to compare progression and geographical location of green transitions: what is happening in green transition and where it happens in South Savo region, Finland? The state and development of green transition in South Savo region is illustrated on a map by using open access geospatial data describing commonly used green transition indicators. In addition to the map and spatial data used in visualizing green transition indicators, the service has an integrated AI assistant using OpenAI’s large language model (LLM). The AI assistant answers questions, conducts light analyses and runs comparisons considering the state and advancement of green and digital transition in the region of South Savo based on focused training materials. Overall, the service provides 1) evidence-based information for municipal decision-making that 2) advances regional capabilities in green and digital transition by 3) combining regional green and digital efforts realized to rural and regional development outcomes. The map, including 21 different indicators will be ready by February 2025. The AI-powered chatbot is planned to be finalised by March 2025. 4) Climate change action monitoring (Donegal, Ireland). This service is aimed at installing and testing the use of Internet of Things water level sensors in a catchment in rural upland West Donegal. The sensors will be used to monitor and quantify the reaction of the rivers to weather related rain events. The goal is to create a baseline level of information of current conditions, and subsequently as part of the Climate Action Plan mitigation measures, to develop a nature based solution (NBS) to water runoff management and monitor through the sensor network any quantifiable changes to runoff behaviour as a result of the NBS. The service will 1) test the use of IoT as a viable tool for local authority environmental monitoring and 2) create a baseline measure of water conditions and reactions within the catchment. The data from the sensor network will be made available as OpenData and integrate into a mobile based alerting service for registered users. This will notify users of any breeches of set thresholds in the water levels in the catchment. Status:service planned to be ready in April 2025.

Project outputs: Enhanced public sector organisations to lead disruptive public services (EN)
Transnational capacity building programme for disruptive public services (EN)
Transnational cooperation(EN)
Piloting disruptive services in 4 NPA regions(EN)
Disruptive service concepts(EN)

Thematic information

ICT and digital society Knowledge and technology transfer

Priority: (VI-B_NPaA_1) Strengthening the innovation capacity for resilient and attractive NPA communities

Priority specific objective: RSO1.2. Reaping the benefits of digitisation for citizens, companies, research organisations and public authorities

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO1 A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity

Type of intervention: 018 IT services and applications for digital skills and digital inclusion

Partners (6)

Lead Partner: European Regions Network for the Application of Communications Technology

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 964478470

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 6544273A

Address: Unit 271, CoLab, ATU Donegal, Port Road, F92 HTW7 Letterkenny, Ireland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://www.ernact.eu

Total budget: EUR 314 342.68

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 204 322.74

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 110 019.94

Contractors:

Name: McGonagle Bus & Coach Hire
VAT registration or tax identification number: -

Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh

Name: Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh

Department: Data Science Institute

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999978045

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IE0022578J

Address: University Road, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland

Department address: Data Science Inst, IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan, H91 AEX4 Galway, Ireland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.nuigalway.ie/

Total budget: EUR 255 090.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 165 808.50

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 89 281.50

Donegal County Council

Name: Donegal County Council

Department: Information Systems

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 950634630

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 8F28103W

Address: County House, The Diamond, F93 Y622 Lifford, Ireland

Department address: County House, The Diamond, F93 Y622 Lifford, Ireland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://www.donegalcoco.ie

Total budget: EUR 174 100.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 113 165.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 60 935.00

Helsingin yliopisto

Name: Helsingin yliopisto

Department: Ruralia Institute

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999994535

Partner’s ID if not PIC: FI03134717

Address: Lönnrotinkatu, 50100 Mikkeli, Finland

Department address: Lönnrotinkatu, 50100 Mikkeli, Finland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/ruralia-institute

Total budget: EUR 237 405.60

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 154 313.64

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 83 091.96

Samtök sunnlenskra sveitarfélaga

Name: Samtök sunnlenskra sveitarfélaga

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 900246040

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 480775-0159

Address: Austurvegur, 800 Selfoss, Iceland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://www.sass.is/

Total budget: EUR 200 000.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 130 000.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 70 000.00

Contractors:

Name: Origo
VAT registration or tax identification number: 32790

Kommunförbundet Västernorrland

Name: Kommunförbundet Västernorrland

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 998097894

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SE222000063801

Address: Järnvägsgatan, 871 45 Härnösand, Sweden

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: http://www.kfvn.se

Total budget: EUR 199 358.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 129 582.70

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 69 775.30

Contractors:

Name: Adda AB
VAT registration or tax identification number: 18750
Name: Elite PlazaHotel Örnsköldsvik
VAT registration or tax identification number: 1592,6
Name: First Hotell Statt
VAT registration or tax identification number: 513,75
Name: FirstHotellStatt via Blue Note
VAT registration or tax identification number: 1750

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

University of Ireland Galway

Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Partners and Projects info

Donegal County Council

Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Partners and Projects info

University of Helsinki

Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Partners and Projects info

Association of Municipalities of the South Iceland

Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Partners and Projects info

Association of Local Authorities Västernorrland

Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Partners and Projects info

European Regions Network for the Application of Communications Technology

Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Project acronym: INNOCAP

Project ID: NPA0100032

Project start date: 2023-01-01

Project end date: 2025-12-31

Project status: ongoing

Relevant linked projects:

INNOCAP (preparatory project) (EN) | This application is the main result of the work carried out by partners in the INNOCAP preparatory project which served, among others, to identify the main dimensions to be tackled when preparing the innovation capacity of the public sector. It also allowed to identify an initial pool of existing knowledge in the participating regions. Finally, the project served to present the idea and involve 3 new partners SASS, NUIG and MIKKELI. (EN), DISTINCT (EN) | This project also makes use of the DISTINCT project, approved under the NPA bridging call. In particular, DISTINCT served to identify what are the main barriers that are preventing public sector from adopting disruptive technologies in the provision of public services and also to map the existing knowledge available in the NPA area with potential of being unlocked and implemented for better and sustainable public services. (EN), EMERGREEN (EN) | The experience acquired in the development of several services in the EMERGREEN project, where some disruptive technologies were piloted, will also contribute as empirical input for the INNOCAP project, in particular in the testing phase. (EN), The Public Link (EN) | The Public Link is a preparatory action project from DGCONNECT where ERNACT and NUIG are participating with other partners to test the possibilities that XR technologies can offer in the provision of new public services. This experience will be put to the disposal of the INNOCAP partners when covering specific parts of the capacity building programme. (EN)

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 380 296.28

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 767 192.58

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 65.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 767 192.58. Co-financing rate, 65.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

Needs analysis report
Disruptive innovation Knowledge Map
Modules definition
Capacity building programme sessions
Communication strategy
Service specifications
Digital coaches for innovative public services
Waste Data Hub
Social innovation led service for decision-making on digital and green transition
Climate change action monitoring
Monitoring reports
Communication reports
Capacity building programme exploitation plan
Services acceptance signed forms
Research paper

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

EUStrategyBalticSeaRegion The INNOCAP approach directly contributes to the sub-objective Connecting people in the region of this strategy since it will open new avenues for participation of the citizens that will be involved in the co-creation of their public services.
AtlanticStrategy Some of the services planned in the project, i.e. the Climate change action monitoring (Ireland), contribute to Priority 2: Protect, secure and develop the potential of the Atlantic marine and coastal environment, in particular to the specific objective 2. exploring and protecting marine waters and coastal zones where is expected to have actions for the development of tools and strategies to address global climate change issues.
EuropeanGreenDeal The project is aligned with this strategy and contributes to it as follows: 1) the Waste Data Hub directly inputs into the priority of improving waste management; 2) the Social innovation led service for decision-making on digital and green transition inputs into the twin objectives of green and digital transition of the strategy; 3) Climate change action will also benefit from the service planned in Ireland.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 116 - Jointly developed solutions, Measurement unit:
RCO 014 - Public institutions supported to develop digital services, products and processes, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO87) Organisations cooperating across borders: 8.0

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:
RCR 011 - Users of new and upgraded public digital services, products and processes, Measurement unit:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSBSR

EUSBSR Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSBSR Degree of compliance:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Northern Periphery and Arctic

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-09-24

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

65 / 65 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

310 / 310 (100%)

Notes on the data

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Building public sector innovation capacity towards digital-driven NPA communities

Description

Thematic information

Partners (6)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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