Helsinki Archives - CommuniCity

Kwizie – From Passive Watching to Data-Driven Engagement

Challenge: How to support the recognition of competence with the help of a digital tool?

Kwizie – From Passive Watching to Data-Driven Engagement: AI Co-Pilot for Recognizing Competence from Video through Multiplayer Quiz Games

Helsinki and Tallinn piloted a new way to identify and develop work-life skills for unemployed residents. The technological solution was based on Kwizie Oy’s AI Co-Pilot for Recognizing Competence through Interactive Video Quiz Games which combine videos and questions into playful quizzes. The platform can be used for various purposes. In the case of Helsinki, it was applied to skill mapping, as the pilot aimed to support the City of Helsinki’s rehabilitation work activities in identifying and validating the competencies of long-term unemployed individuals. As part of the pilot, Kwizie produced video material that supported the provision of services to homeless people in Tallinn. The videos reduced the administrative burden and improved the acquisition of the content of the documents of the City of Tallinn’s welfare and health care services.

Through the pilots, Kwizie Oy was able to develop its product with customers through real-world applications. The Helsinki and Tallinn pilots demonstrated that gamification works well in developing work-life skills. Both cities and Kwizie Oy employees were satisfied with the pilot and the collaboration.

Stereoscape Oy – An interactive video-based platform

Challenge: Helsinki: How to reliably measure the digital skills of long-term unemployed citizens?

Stereoscape Oy – An interactive video-based platform for understanding and improving the digital skills of unemployed people

The Digital Skills Mapping survey aims to assist unemployed individuals in assessing their digital competence, guiding them to appropriate digital courses that support their development. The web-based tool uses a branched scenario approach that adapts based on the user’s responses, revealing their level of digital proficiency. This data-driven solution provides valuable insights into users’ skills on a broader scale.

The pilot was a collaboration between the pilot team – Stereoscape – and the three pilot hosts – Eesti Töötukassa, the City of Helsinki’s Rehabilitation Work Activities Unit, and Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional from Porto, Portugal. The needs of the staff members and clients (marginalised groups) were quite similar in all three cities. The Helsinki survey laid the basis for the localised surveys. It was designed through both in-person and remote workshops using a suitable collaboration platform for distance work. Localisation work in Porto and Tallinn was done remotely by the pilot hosts, together with Stereoscape.

The collaborative process involved building the survey structure, including crafting questions, answers, and branches, and integrating the solution into a digital learning platform. Thorough user testing sessions helped refine the functionality and applicability of the tool, offering essential feedback that has laid the groundwork for a unique and adaptable solution. This approach ensures the tool can continue to evolve based on future feedback.

Suomen Digitaalinen Tehdas Oy – Pressure ulcer prevention

Challenge: How to prevent pressure ulcers in wheelchair patients?

Suomen Digitaalinen Tehdas Oy – Pressure ulcer prevention for wheelchair patients

An estimated 55,000-80,000 patients per year have a pressure ulcer in Finland. Almost nearly 2-3% of total healthcare spending is used on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pressure ulcers although pressure ulcers are avoidable.

Suomen Digitaalinen Tehdas Oy and Touchlab Limited aim to reduce the pressure ulcer formation with their innovation. In Helsinki, they pilot a pressure ulcer mat, which can be integrated into wheelchair seat pillows using a sensor solution.

The solution helps the healthcare professionals, organisations and units with their daily routines. With an app, clinicians can set custom pressure thresholds, unique to each patient. When a pressure threshold is met and held for a period of time an alert will be sent to the clinician, allowing for redistribution to occur, and preventing a pressure ulcer.

Riesa Consultative Oy – Crowdsourced accessibility survey

Challenge: Helsinki: How to generate pedestrian route information with participative data collection?

Riesa Consultative Oy – Crowdsourced accessibility survey for two districts in the City of Helsinki

Riesa Consultative Oy, in collaboration with Crowdsorsa, conducted a pilot in Helsinki and Tallinn to test a new method for collecting accurate, up-to-date accessibility data for individuals with accessibility needs. The pilot aimed to collect information specifically on the accessibility of pedestrian crossings and the condition of routes.

The Crowdsorsa mobile game encouraged users to move around the city in various predefined areas and take photos along the way in exchange for a small monetary compensation. The photos provided information on how the routes work from the perspective of visually impaired and wheelchair users. Riesa Consultative Oy analysed the photographic material.

The pilots conducted in Helsinki and Tallinn demonstrated that the game works well as a method for data collection. Additionally, the pilots proved that there is a need for more up-to-date information on routes and accessibility. In Tallinn, the game has since been used to map the accessibility of public transport stops

Superflash Technology Oy – Sampo

Challenge: How to enhance the quality of life for citizens with severe disabilities through digital innovations?

Superflash Technology Oy – Sampo – The ultimate smart autonomous wheelchair solution

A new wheelchair system called The Sampo addresses limitations of traditional joystick controls. To simplify the operation of electric wheelchairs and bolster their safety, Superflash Technology Oy’s system is enhancing controls with machine learning. The solution encompasses two core components. First, eye-tracking integrated for navigation offers a more innovative and intuitive Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experience than traditional joysticks. Second, SLAM technology for environmental perception identifies potential movement risks to ensure heightened safety.

The wheelchair control system integrates with traditional joystick-operated electric wheelchairs. It is drawing from mature technologies in the gaming and car industries, placing a particular emphasis on addressing the unique needs of individuals with disabilities and ensuring their safety.

Ai2Ai Oy – PALL0

Challenge: Helsinki: How to enhance the quality of life for citizens with severe disabilities through digital innovations?

Ai2Ai Oy – PALL0 – using all senses for communication and improved quality of life

Individuals with severe intellectual disabilities often require support for communication and service use. In the spring of 2024, Ai2Ai Oy piloted whether the PALL0 technology could assist individuals with severe disabilities in communication and provide new activation methods for the Helsinki’s day activities. The ball-shaped PALL0 combines movement expression, sensors, and artificial intelligence with gamification and interaction.

In Helsinki, the technology was piloted at the Sofianlehto Activity Centre, which offers day activities for the city’s residents with disabilities. The team piloting PALL0 co-developed the solution with Sofianlehto’s physiotherapists, instructors and clients. During the pilot, the solution’s user-friendliness, technical functionality, and suitability for both day activity clients and to the use of activity center staff were evaluated. The collaboration yielded promising results.

Stereoscape’s web-based interactive DigiGuide

Challenge: How to encourage non-Finnish speakers to integrate into society?
Stereoscape’s web-based interactive DigiGuide

Web-based interactive digital guide (DigiGuide) from Stereoscape Oy is a service for clients of Employment support and social rehabilitation of the City of Helsinki to access and understand essential societal services. The browser-based guide is easily accessible online through URL links on mobile phones, tablets and PCs. The main view of the DigiGuide features a bird’s-eye view of a city. Different services are highlighted with touch/click interactive hotspots each representing a service or other important topics. By clicking the hotspots, the users find more information about the topic through visuals and other multimedia content that make the information easy to understand. The information structure is also multilayered – through the landing screen, users can freely dive deeper into topics of their choice.

Digital skills for unemployed non-Finnish speakers

Challenge: How to integrate long-term unemployed citizens into working life?
Digital skills for unemployed non-Finnish speakers

In order to bridge the gap between high unemployment and high labor shortage, digital skills and vocational training to empower non-Finnish speakers are needed. These skills refer to the ability to access, evaluate, and create digital services and tools to manage life and work. During the pilot, the Aiedus provides digital skills training to improve non-Finnish speakers digital skills related to work capabilities. In other words, the goal is to equip unemployed with improved digital skills, in order to make them more competitive and employable in the job markets. The first objective of the pilot is to improve the digital skills of unemployed to use digital services and tools in life. The second objective is to improve digital skills for working, and thirdly, to improve lifelong learning capabilities to continuously develop digital skills. The fourth objective is to improve the employability and finally, to improve the overall quality of life.

Inlisol remote wellbeing and safety monitoring

Challenge: What kind of technologies increase the safety of the homecare clients?
Inlisol remote wellbeing and safety monitoring for homecare services

Palko Interactive Oy aims at improving and securing the living conditions of home care clients by enabling them to live independently and safely in their homes. One way to achieve this goal is through the use of technology, such as alert systems. These alarms can detect if the person has left the house, stayed in bed for an extended period or if there are drastic changes in health vitals. Furthermore, automated alerts can help prevent additional injuries and symptoms, especially for individuals who are unable to call for help themselves. Preventative vital data can provide valuable information to home care nurses, allowing them to detect early-stage indications of potential health issues and incidents. This data enables them to react in advance and prevent further health complications. In Helsinki pilot home care unit pilots service that automates tasks, measurements, and work that is not necessary to be done by humans, but which can significantly reduce the pressure on overloaded and stressed home care personnel. The solution provides a wide range of monitoring alerts, preventative notifications and indicators, and general wellbeing data through an AI and radio wave technology-based solution. All monitoring is done fully anonymously to respect the monitored person’s privacy.

Inclusiverse

Challenge: How the disabled can improve their skills by using virtual technologies?
InclusiVerse

InclusiVerse is a VR-based application from CTRL Reality for Meta Quest headsets that aims to enhance the social and digital skills of adults and young adults with developmental disabilities. The application provides a safe and motivating virtual environment that allows users to engage in social interactions, develop digital skills, and practise daily routines and new situations. The application includes both real time collaboration and pre-recorded situations, as well as engaging environments that have been specifically designed to facilitate communication and socialisation among disabled individuals. The application is based on in-house XR content development platform that is easy to use and allows for the creation of customisable environments to suit the specific needs of each target group. The ultimate goal is to prevent marginalisation and promote the inclusion of disabled individuals in society, with expected impacts including improved social and digital skills, increased confidence, and a greater sense of community and belonging.