These themes have been put together to give a flavour of some of the innovations under discussion at the recent Festival of Ideas focused on independent living. We hope that they might also give people a sense of the kind of projects that might work with the Innovation Exchange under its coming Next Practice programme. However, this list is by no means fixed or exclusive – we will likely not be working in all the areas listed below and will certainly work in areas other than those described here.
Home improvements
Innovations in the twentieth century helped to take some of the drudgery out of housework. Today, third sector innovators are looking to make people’s homes work for them. With homes now an even more significant personal asset than ever before, their design, ownership and management are vital to independent living. Just as innovations like shared ownership have helped people to secure homes of their own, so innovators are looking to develop new approaches to helping them stay in them.
From new approaches to supported housing to new financial models to new kinds of home-sharing and inclusive design, innovators are working hard to bridge the gap between housing policy and care policy. Their objective is to create approaches that integrate issues of independent living and accommodation, so that where people live can be a source of long-term support rather than stress.
Technical support
The rise of the internet has changed the likes of journalism from a profession to an activity, with anyone able to publish their writing on the web. However, much of the information about independent living remains locked up, only accessible to the few. Other key pieces of information – who can provide support? Where do they live? How good are they? – do not exist at all.
As online technology becomes increasingly simple and accessible, third sector innovators are taking this kind of problem into their own hands. They are building new datasets, not only accessible to users but often co-created with users, featuring their knowledge and experience. And some new online tools are bringing together new groups of people, helping designers, policy-makers and users to work together to solve their problems. The aim of this work is to empower people with the information they need to live independently and to help create systems of services personalised around their needs.
Friends for life
Many public services recognise that they are becoming sticking plasters for the growing problem of social isolation. For a younger generation, social fragmentation has not only spawned online innovations like Facebook but new social practices such as speed-dating. Third sector innovators are now looking to do the same for elderly and disabled people, to help them to sustain and build social networks in a changing world.
Not only do people naturally value friends and partners very highly, they can also be a powerful source of advice and support, helping people to live independently. From new uses of the internet and the telephone to simple approaches like social events and street parties, helping people to make friends is increasingly the primary focus of third sector work to support independent living. This work recognises that independent living is often founded on inter-dependent living – on supportive groups and communities – and aims to make the most of that connection.
Stylists and Personal Shoppers
For a time, support around what to buy and where to buy it was the preserve of the rich and famous. Indeed, ‘lifestyle management’ for millionaires is now big business. However, as personal budgets give people greater power over the support they receive, this kind of help and support is increasingly needed across the social spectrum. And third sector innovators are responding, developing new models that provide systematic support across an area or service that is personal to each individual.
From financial advocacy to new models that allow budget holders to employ staff through a responsible third-party, innovators are increasingly defining people’s needs for advice and support more clearly and building niche services around them. The ambition is to complement people’s circles of support and to ensure that they have the information and help to personalise services as they wish. In the process, these innovations are creating the kind of ancillary and support services that can help personal budgets to take off.
Smart tools
Often, innovation is not about using more technology but about using less. The clockwork radio freed thousands of people in the developing world from reliance on expensive power supplies for vital news. Equally, simple technologies continue to be developed today that are vitally important to independent living. These technologies are not so capital-intensive as to be the preserve of big corporations – third sector innovators are also getting in on the act.
From simple tools for the kitchen to software that enables people to use computers, third sector innovators are increasingly identifying niches that need filling. Their aim is often to create products for people not served by exclusively profit-making companies. And for many of them, their strength is their close relationships with the services and user-led organisations with which these technologies must connect.
Invisible public servants
From DIY and self-service to platforms like Ebay, private sector innovation has long sought to help customers help themselves. At £34bn, the value of informal care dwarfs that provided by the state. And as demand for care grows, the pressures of work and travel mean that family and friends are not always able to take up the slack. As a result, it is more important than ever to find approaches that work with the grain of informal care and support families and communities to support one another. Third sector innovators are working to do just that.
From tackling barriers like inflexible employment conditions or a lack of knowledge and support to attracting new types of volunteers into care, these innovators are playing a vital role in developing sustainable models of service delivery. Their ambition is both to help more people to care for their friends, family and community-members and to secure the national future of long-term care.
