Östersund Municipality - AI-Driven Co-creation for Municipal Efficiency
The Social and Labour Market Administration used Vocean to optimize resources while maintaining or increasing citizen benefits.
About Östersund Municipality
The Social and Labour Market Administration of the Municipality of Östersund carries out the work decided by the council on the municipality's social services for individual and family care, including the distribution of grants to non-profit organizations in the field, as well as managing grants from the social fund for general and children's assistance needs. They also take care of integration and migration issues as well as labor market issues and adult education.
The Challenge
The aim of the workshop was to generate proposals for efficiency improvements within the municipality. 30 managers from the social and labor market administration gathered for a workshop where they had to come up with solutions to the question: How can we use our resources in an even better way while maintaining or increasing citizen benefits?
By using Vocean, we were able to capture everyone's thoughts more effectively, work together to come up with solutions, and use AI to generate valuable input for decision-making. With Vocean's AI, we were able to compile a comprehensive report at the end of our workshop, saving us invaluable time and quickly providing useful input for further work. It was clear that the participants enjoyed working in Vocean, they were not only engaged but also relieved to be free of the documentation work.
The Process
A four-step journey from scattered ideas to refined, actionable solutions
Pre-Workshop Ideation
The idea generation already started before the workshop when links were sent out to the participants who contributed in advance to the basis that would be further developed during the workshop. As participants had already started generating ideas in advance, less time was spent coming up with ideas when the group met and more time could be spent on discussions and co-creation.
Provocative Brainstorming
After a short introduction to the day, the idea generation continued where each participant was asked to submit 7-8 ideas. Then the facilitators asked provocative questions to get the creativity flowing, such as: "If laws did not exist, what would we do?" and "If we lost a third of our staff, what would we do?".
AI-Powered Categorization
The first step in co-creation was for participants to go through the list of contributions and like the ideas they agreed with. Based on the collected ideas, Vocean's AI was able to identify 4 categories. Participants then liked 2 ideas from each category which led to a prioritization list for each category.
Co-Creation & AI Reporting
The participants were divided into 4 groups and each group was assigned one of the most liked ideas from each category. They co-created around these ideas leading to 4 refined solutions. Finally, Vocean's AI, Copilot, was used to produce a report as a basis for further work. In total, more than 100 ideas were collected, which were reduced to the 4 refined solutions.
Results & Impact
Östersund Municipality’s Social and Labor Market Administration organized a successful workshop aimed at streamlining resource use while maintaining or increasing citizen benefits. By using the Vocean platform for preparatory idea generation and democratic prioritization, participants were able to focus on co-creation during the workshop itself. Using the AI tool Vocean Copilot, a comprehensive report was compiled, saving time and facilitating further work. The workshop resulted in four refined solutions per category, and participants appreciated the innovative and engaging work process.
Key Insights
Important lessons learned from the project implementation
Östersund Municipality’s Social and Labor Market Administration organized a successful workshop aimed at streamlining resource use while maintaining or increasing citizen benefits. By using the Vocean platform for preparatory idea generation and democratic prioritization, participants were able to focus on co-creation during the workshop itself. Using the AI tool Vocean Copilot, a comprehensive report was compiled, saving time and facilitating further work. The workshop resulted in four refined solutions per category, and participants appreciated the innovative and engaging work process.
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