The role of design innovation in digital health and care transformation

The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI) is a partnership between the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow School of Art (GSA) that aspires to be pioneers and leaders in the field of digital health and care solutions. We play a pivotal role inspiring, enabling and combining world-leading industry and academic expertise around technology, service and design innovation to create person-centred, digital health and care solutions. The COVID-19 response saw the DHI become a fundamental part of Scotland’s approach to the pandemic: directly advising Scottish Government Ministers; undertaking rapid analysis and national/international engagement to learn from others; and directly assisting the accelerated adoption of innovation into national scale within front line services. A design driven approach allowed projects to be delivered in weeks rather than years. The GSA Design Innovation approach evolved as a core competence of the DHI, adding value and benefit at each stage within the innovation process, from creative engagement with users to derive insight and define requirements, through the development and analysis of interactive prototypes and into the delivery of products and services. The intention of the talk would be to outline how design and creative practice is a proven, differentiating capability within the DHI.