Immigrants Archives - CommuniCity

T-APPS B.V. – Skendy: an assistant for your documents

Cross-border Pilot with Amsterdam

T-APPS B.V. – Skendy: an assistant for your documents

The CommuniCity project Skendy piloted an initiative designed to improve support mechanisms for expats and refugees through an advanced mobile app. This pilot entailed over 40 hours of co-creation sessions with expats, refugees, and various stakeholders such as IAMSTERDAM, students, and local communities in Amsterdam and Prague. The objective was to identify and address the unique challenges faced by these groups through practical, user-focused solutions.

During the piloting process, an event in Prague played a pivotal role in testing and refining these solutions based on participant feedback. The initiative’s core developments included the design and implementation of a new user interface and the integration of an AI-powered chatbot. This chatbot, intended as the central feature of the app, provides personalized assistance and access to a comprehensive knowledge base tailored for both Amsterdam and Prague.

Additionally, the pilot phase included the creation of a demo version of the app specifically for refugees. This demo, developed in collaboration with refugee representatives, aimed to ensure the platform effectively meets their specific needs, although it remains in the testing stages. The pilot yielded promising results: engaging target communities, developing a user-friendly digital interface, and implementing a functional AI assistant that enhances the app’s utility. It also led to the acquisition of new talent to facilitate faster growth and increased support capabilities.

The next steps following the pilot include leveraging the insights gained to refine the app further. These efforts highlight the project’s dedication to continuous enhancement and community involvement in developing services that directly cater to the needs of expats and other end-users.

Duckwise ApS – Simplifying bank account setup

Challenge: How can technology ease the process of setting up a bank account for foreigners?

Duckwise ApS – A collaborative approach to simplifying bank account setup for the international workforce in Aarhus Municipality

Bank bureaucracy can sometimes be a problem for foreigners in Denmark. The long and inefficient process poses challenges for all involved parties, particularly for immigrant workers. Overcoming this challenge, Duckwise ApS co-created a user-centred and intuitive approach to simplify bank account setup and administrative processes, helping immigrants to start a new life in Aarhus Municipality.

The development of this solution incorporated a cooperative process from the beginning, as some co-creation activities include interviewing the target groups, allowing them to share their experiences, and creating a prototype based on the feedback received. Hopefully, the replication of the project in other cities can improve the quality of international residents, Citizen Services, banks, and companies across Europe.

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.

T-APPS B.V. – Skendy: an assistant for your documents

Challenge: How to adapt an existing technological solution for a specific group?

T-APPS B.V. – Skendy: an assistant for your documents

The CommuniCity project Skendy piloted an initiative designed to improve support mechanisms for expats and refugees through an advanced mobile app. This pilot entailed over 40 hours of co-creation sessions with expats, refugees, and various stakeholders such as IAMSTERDAM, students, and local communities in Amsterdam and Prague. The objective was to identify and address the unique challenges faced by these groups through practical, user-focused solutions.

During the piloting process, an event in Prague played a pivotal role in testing and refining these solutions based on participant feedback. The initiative’s core developments included the design and implementation of a new user interface and the integration of an AI-powered chatbot. This chatbot, intended as the central feature of the app, provides personalized assistance and access to a comprehensive knowledge base tailored for both Amsterdam and Prague.

Additionally, the pilot phase included the creation of a demo version of the app specifically for refugees. This demo, developed in collaboration with refugee representatives, aimed to ensure the platform effectively meets their specific needs, although it remains in the testing stages. The pilot yielded promising results: engaging target communities, developing a user-friendly digital interface, and implementing a functional AI assistant that enhances the app’s utility. It also led to the acquisition of new talent to facilitate faster growth and increased support capabilities.

The next steps following the pilot include leveraging the insights gained to refine the app further. These efforts highlight the project’s dedication to continuous enhancement and community involvement in developing services that directly cater to the needs of expats and other end-users.

Video avatar translation widget (XS2 Content)

Challenge: AI-generated video making healthcare information more accessible
Video avatar translation widget

The Municipality of Amsterdam seeks solutions to help enhance citizens’ understanding of the Dutch National Immunisation Programme and improve overall health outcomes, particularly among those with low literacy skills and those from diverse backgrounds. XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) will address this need through the application Video avatar translation widget.

Target Groups:
•People who speak a different language
• Low-literacy individuals
• People with low family care
• Parents and young people with a Moroccan or Turkish background

Objectives:
• Reach hard-to-reach target groups through the use of video content in addition to text
• Reduce video-creation time by leveraging AI technology
• Convert existing text into spoken videos with real-life, lip synced avatars in multiple languages
• Make healthcare information more accessible by converting written content into video format
• Ensure easy accessibility by sharing videos on social media and web-widgetsany

Audio-to-audio translation for status holders

Challenge: How to let non-Dutch speakers communicate in their own language?
Audio-to-audio translation for status holders, in real-time, powered by AI

Status holders are required to go through a participation and immigration process (PIP) at the municipality of Amsterdam. However, employees at the municipality (klantmanagers) and status holders often don’t speak the same language. Klantmanagers speak mostly Dutch, and status holders often Arabic or Tigrinya. Translators are not always available or viable. They are expensive, take time to organize, are not always available in the short term, and sometimes make errors. Meanwhile, most status holders speak languages that have an oral tradition; hence verbal communication is preferred. There are barriers to communication between klantmanagers and status holders.

Objective: Better communication would improve the experience throughout the process for both. To achieve this, Switch AI develops speech technology that does audio-to-audio translation, in real-time! A solution built using the power of state-of-the-art AI technology.

Solution: Switch will build a software service that leverages speech recognition, translation and personalized speech generation AI models. The service will aid klantmanagers and status holders to communicate in their own languages. This service can be integrated with various applications developed by Gemeente Amsterdam, such as the PIP app.