Gabriel Ignacio Rojas & Iñigo Zubicaray | Galway
INNOCAP project partners have gathered in Galway (Ireland), for their third in person project meeting on the 21st and 22nd of November 2023. It was hosted by the University of Galway with the aim of diving deeper into the programme that will build the capacity of the participants to deliver public services driven by disruptive innovations. The partners had the opportunity to review the project’s progress and to learn from local experts as part of the third session of the Capacity Building Programme, led by the Insight Centre - University of Galway (Ireland).
During the first session, University of Galway made a presentation of the potential technologies and solutions that could support the implementation of the 4 pilots planned in the project, namely: 1) Building a digital innovation platform (Västernorrland, Sweden) 2) Waste data hub (South Iceland) 3) Social innovation led service for decision-making on digital and green transition (South Savo, Finland) 4) Climate change action monitoring (Donegal, Ireland). This allowed partners to further develop their ideas as well as clarify and prioritise the next steps in the process. The ongoing conversation also sparked new ideas and created opportunities for more collaboration between partners that involves sharing and learning from each other and their expertise.
Throughout the rest of the event, various workshops took place, led by a series of experts who shared their knowledge as part of the capacity building programme. Researcher in the eGov unit Niall Ó Brolcháin and Internet of Things (IoT) Unit Lead from University of Galway Dr Martin Serrano did a deep dive of IoT and Open Data. Vinilo Snaill focused his presentation on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which helped expand the knowledge that partners acquired in previous trainings. Agustín García Pereira, representing Galvia, a leading provider of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for diverse organizations, shared insightful perspectives on the ever-evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence and the possible integrations of this transformative technology.
After every training session, Lukasz Porwol facilitated discussions focused on each of the pilots that the partners are developing. This provided a platform for further consultancy to ensure maximum capacity building, taking advantage of the experts present to help better identify foreseen tasks and possible challenges.
The event also included a session to hold a Steering Committee meeting, led by ERNACT, where the partners made a revision of the current status of activities and agree on next steps.
In summary, these two fruitful days in Galway brought the opportunity to learn from experts, exchange knowledge and views among the participants and one another resulting in new potential applications, establish connections and to set clear goals to move forward.