Latest update - Video from our Social Innovation Camp express now published

We've produced a video (now playing above) that gives a summary of how the day unfolded at our social innovation camp.  Enjoy watching!

The Sicamp also got a write up in the recent NECLES HIEC newsletter.

 

Results from our Social Innovation Camp express (published 28/02/2012)

On Saturday 25th February, 55 people came together at Westminster Hub and New Zealand House to work on the issue of young people and health. The event was organised by Social Innovation Camp and supported by the North East London and North Central London & Essex Health Innovation Education Cluster (NECLES HIEC). Social Innovation Camp that brings together software developers and designers with people who understand a social problem to create innovative technical solutions to social problems. The group had just 8 hours to define the problems and produce their online solution, including wireframes, a marketing plan, & a business model. 

Some of the topics included: how to eat well and stay active, addressing the transition to adulthood and managing the impact of social isolation - for a full list of the teams - visit Social Innovation Camp. Each team then pitched their ideas in “Dragons’ Den” style. Judges included Jane Barnacle (from myhealthlondon, NHS London), Christian Fadojou (from the GLA’s Children and Young Peoples Unit), and Vishal Gulati (from digito.me).

The winners came up with a concept called Beehive. They were asked to address the problem of how to eat well and keep fit. They chose not to focus on a particular activity, but instead focused on getting people out and doing something in their community. Beehive was chosen as a name that reflected the concept of creating an activity hub of user generated, user rated and user recommended activities and services for health and wellbeing for young people in London. Once tested, an investment of up to £10,000 as well as time and support from myhealthlondon will help to bring the Beehive concept to life.

 

We will track the progress here on myhealthlondon, so look out for the pics and video from the day which will be posted next week.

To fnd out more about the background of this social innovation camp keep reading on.

 

Introduction to Social Innovation Camp express (published 24/01/2012)

Our Social Innovation Camp Express event is tackling the meaty subject of how health services can be made more user friendly for those aged 16 to 25.

 

Who is it for?

The group will include young people from across London with a variety of interests. Delegates from the Children and Young People’s Unit at City Hall (who make up the Greater London Authority’s Peer Outreach Team) are joined by others including: football coaches, young people's entrepreneurship networks, voluntary sector organisations and via social media. The aim is that these young people will give a unique insight into the needs and attitudes of young people on health issues.

NECLES HIEC Managing Director Robyn Hudson explained,

“Whatever field you work in we can all be guilty of making assumptions about how things are, using words people don’t understand or coming up with what we think is a great new product or service even though we are not actually the end user. Social Innovation Camp tries to challenge this way of doing things – it is about bringing together the people that will use the product or service with those who can design it and healthcare professionals who can vouch for its value in their work.”

 “We’re working with young people to really try and understand what some of the issues are from a young person’s perspective. Things that have come up in early meetings include the problems of young people feeling socially isolated, the need to make sexual health services more approachable and less taboo and how GPs and hospitals can be more accessible – from understanding what a GP can do for them to perhaps devising a simple phone app where they can see the waiting times at A&E in real time. There is also the subject of helping young people understand the ‘rules’ when it comes to confidentiality and the role of their parents or carers in appointments with health professionals. This in itself can be a real barrier in young people seeking help on health issues.”

 

What's come out of Social Innovation Camps?

Since the Social Innovation Camps have been going, more than 350 ideas have been generated and more than 30 prototypes have been built. Past successes include:-

Enabled by Design, a website where people with a physical disability can review everyday products and suggest how they can be made better for those with disabilities.

The Good Gym, an online service where people who want to get fit are teamed with elderly or isolated people who need physical errands doing – from shopping to gardening. The idea is to encourage people to do a good deed and keep fit at the same time.

Social Innovation Camp Managing Director Glen Mehn said this year’s event should bear real fruit thanks to the mixture of young people, website developers, entrepreneurs and healthcare experts.

 “We remember being young, and concerned with our health. Unfortunately, most of the advice we got wasn’t right, either in delivery, content, or tone. Because of this we want to find out what young people think is important, then help them make it happen. In the run up to the weekend we’re doing a few meetings with people who work in healthcare as well as young people – we want to find out what both groups think is important, and then get them together to work on those issues over the weekend”.

 

Follow our progress

The winning idea will benefit from the backing of myhealthlondon who will be committing up to a maximum of £10,000 to take the prototype through to production.

Said Robyn Hudson, “This is about great ideas but it is also about seeing something concrete come out of it that will benefit young people in London.”

A full report on the Social Innovation Camp weekend including videos and interviews with attendees will appear on myhealthlondon in early March and we will continue to track the winning idea on its journey to production - so keep a look out for regular updates to this feature.

For more information on the work of the Social Innovation Camp and how you could get involved go to: www.sicamp.org or drop them a line on hello@sicamp.org.