The London Office for Technology and Innovation (LOTI) has said it plans to launch its sandbox environment for new services next week.
Healthcare professionals, care leaders, academics, third sector organisations, occupational therapists, and technology and data specialists have been invited to an "immersive day" for the LOTI Sandbox, focused on adult social care, on October 3, 2024.
The event, at which every participant will be invited to share their stories, is the inaugural Sandbox event since the concept was announced earlier in the year. It is aimed at bringing people together to share the challenges of delivering public services, in this case, adult social care.
At the event, attendees will be able to discover and question the issues that make service delivery hard or successful. LOTI has created the Sandbox method to improve the pace of design, test, evaluation and adoption of new technologies and methods in social care.
In January, the director of LOTI, Eddie Copeland, said the sandbox would be an opportunity to test new technologies and service innovations, and evaluate realistic mock-ups of local service areas without risk.
Challenges and processes
At the event, attendees will identify service challenges and map existing processes and technologies before creating a physical mock-up that technology companies and other innovators can use to see a ‘performance’ of the current service model carried out by actors or volunteers. The owners of individual challenges would be on hand to answer any questions.
It is hoped that in early 2025, prototypes developed in the Sandbox will be shared and adopted by boroughs across London.
The event will be held in person at the Techspace Shoreditch in the centre of the city. Attendees can expect real user stories and are invited to contribute their experiences to improve all attendees' understanding of service delivery problems and the technology or methods that could solve these.
LOTI said in a statement: “The pressures facing adult social care are well known. Lengthy reports document the many challenges on service delivery, yet often focus on individual parts of the system, be it the local authority, NHS, care providers or other agencies.
"By contrast, this event will be about exploring, through a user lens, the source and impact of the pressures across the wider system, highlighting the problems faced by individuals who need care as well as those responsible for providing it.”
Tickets for the event are available at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/loti/1331245
