Delivering services that meet the needs of rapidly evolving communities requires a commitment to innovation at both a technological and systemic level. For individuals, it begins with a willingness to step outside familiar routines, embrace change, and explore new ideas.
In September, 50 staff from Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, and Dublin City Council began a 12-week pilot journey of discovery through the Data Smart programme. Delivered by the Analytics Institute on behalf of Technology Ireland DIGITAL Skillnet and supported by Microsoft, the programme strengthens data literacy and helps staff understand the role of data in their work and within their councils.
It’s designed to give staff the foundation to understand why data is important to their role and council. Smart Dublin aims to empower staff to drive innovation using open data by providing freely available clean datasets on the Dublinked website.
Data Smart Programme Overview:
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Introduction to Data
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Data Collection & Cleaning
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Data Transformation
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Data Interpretation
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Data Visualisation
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Storytelling with Data
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Design Thinking
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Data Ethics, Privacy & Security
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Data Governance
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Introduction to AI
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Emerging Technologies
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Bringing Value to the Business with Data
The course culminated with an in-person Datathon held at the end of November at Microsoft’s Garage facility in Dublin. Teams worked through practical problem-solving and found commonality across the three authorities.
For councils, data is an asset; there are numerous advantages to making decisions based on data. Accountability and transparency regarding our decision-making are facilitated by a culture where data is used.
Building data literacy skills internally promotes a culture of quality data collection, data governance and supports data protection practices. Smart Dublin aims to create a community of practice around data helping the four Dublin local authorities work better together to innovate and improve services using the data gathered and stored on the Dublinked, South Dublin, and Fingal Data platforms.
Progressive organisations no longer operate in a way that shoots down a good idea simply because the tech isn’t available yet. By establishing collaborative initiatives such as Smart Dublin, councils now have strong relationships with industry and universities, giving us access to the kind of academic research and technical know-how that pushes the boundaries required to help support innovation. Having clean, usable data is a key component for developing improved services.
Council staff are also receiving support to innovate, with new training opportunities being made available and local innovation initiatives such as the Chief Executive Innovation Fund in Fingal and South Dublin’s annual Innovation Awards.
By supporting staff to acquire the knowledge to understand and fully interact with data, the three councils are aiming to create the conditions for cultural change where evidence-based decision-making is integrated and councils are prepared and equipped to practise this.
Thanks to Jamie Cudden, Susie Healy, Nicola Graham, Jack Kavanagh, Dominic Byrne, Robbie Murtagh, Bernard Gaughan, and Alan Murphy for supporting this initiative. And huge congratulations to each of the 50 participants who completed the course and datathon.