The Danish SocKETs lab explores the socio-ethical issues related to the development of KETs-based innovation in eHealth. Their co-creation process started in late October with a full-day workshop where the participants addressed different eHealth societal issues related to KETs and were introduced to societal engagement
Whether they heard about societal engagement before or not, 10 participants from 8 companies developing eHealth devices attended the Design Workshop organised by the Danish Technological Institute to kick off the SocKETs societal engagement experimentation in Denmark.
Throughout the day and the different co-creation exercises prepared by the Danish team, the participants identified, rated, and reflected on the challenges they currently experience when developing and launching eHealth products. Three main challenges emerged from the discussions:
- Who should financially contribute to the development and the implementation of eHealth devices into the Danish health system?
- How to create an open and start-up-friendly environment that goes along with the way how public institutions work?
- How to better understand and get access to the real settings and workflow in which an eHealth device will be used on the ground?
The identification of core challenges is crucial in the SocKETs process and those will be at the heart of the next step. But the contribution of the participants does not end here: they also reflected on how they could contribute to tackling such challenges and who else should be brought to the table and have their say. Those inputs and thoughts will feed the Danish team to design a meaningful and purposeful second workshop for all the participants engaged.
It was also crucial for the SocKETs lab team to hear from the participants and ensure they feel part of the learning experience. Therefore, they chose to adjust the GROW model – a coaching technique – to transform the participants both into coach and coachee. They also multiplied the use of working groups and deliberative exercises. The strong engagement of the participants throughout the day let the Danish SocKETs lab team be grateful, positively impressed and, optimistic for the next phases that will see the engagement of citizens in the process.
Want to be involved in SocKETs?
If you want to join this societal engagement movement in Denmark, reach Nina, our Danish SocKETs lab leader!
