Seniori356

The City of Espoo wanted to bring senior citizens within the scope of digital services, and saw the Seniori365 service developed by students at the University of Applied Sciences Laurea. The service was developed in workshops using the service design approach and working in close co-operation with seniors.
It is a new internet platform where seniors and their caregivers can find:
- Service providers who offer physical or virtual help or products for home environment to support elderly living at their own homes.
- Information that supports daily living.
- Virtual activity programs that support elderly’s health and physical, social and mind performance.
- Links to useful private, 3rd sector and municipal or state organisations.

It offers information regarding well-being and home safety as well as services and products, all in one place. The website features articles on physical exercise, well-being and healthcare. People wanting to engage in gymnastics, relaxation or other activities can watch videos. There are also inspiring stories of senior citizens.
By bringing together the young and the old to co-create a platform that would best cater to the needs of the local seniors, both parties benefited by learning more about new ways they could go about solving a problem and thinking about it. Moreover, the success of this programme is immediately beneficial for the seniors involved in that they will be better equipped when it comes to contacting local caretaking agents and for the young students because they got to see problems being solved and theory being put in practice.
In March 2015, the service was awarded the Best Practice 2014 award for an excellent service innovation by Design for All Foundation; in October 2015 in London, it won the EU-WIIN Women Inventors and Innovators Network award in the category of the best social innovation; and in October 2015 in Japan, the co-design category in the IAUD Design competition.

Context: The digital world is not only for digital natives. This is an idea shared by the City of Espoo that wanted to bring senior citizens within the scope of digital services. The Espoo region's interests and the skills of Laurea University of Applied Sciences created the Seniori356.fi service, a digital service innovation developed and implemented by the students of Laurea for Espoo senior citizens and their family members. The development of Seniori365.fi began in the InnoEspoo project which brought together the City of Espoo, Omnia, Aalto Small Business Centre and Laurea.

Stakeholders involved: Laurea University of Applied Sciences

Key learning points: - Good guideline/methodology example for other similar practices.
- A good solution to empower seniors to become better able to help themselves.
- A good example of theoretical concepts, such as contructivism, being put into practice.
in March 2015, the service was awarded the Best Practice 2014 award for an excellent service innovation by Design for All Foundation; in October 2015 in London, it won the EU-WIIN Women Inventors and Innovators Network award in the category of the best social innovation; and in October 2015 in Japan, the co-design category in the IAUD Design competition.

Evaluation: Yes

Information sources: None.

Read the full analysis: http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/10024/135272/1/Alakoski_Tikkanen_Jaaskelainen.pdf