Eolas magazine Technology and innovation report Jan 2022

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Technology and innovation report

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Harnessing AI: A positive and transformative force for Ireland

Ireland is well positioned to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). Minister of State with responsibility for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Robert Troy TD, writes.

When we talk about AI, there is a tendency to speak in terms of the future or in potential and opportunity. We talk about what AI can help us to achieve and what it will do for us, but the fact is that many Irish businesses are already using and benefitting from AI, whether it is to improve productivity, to interact with their customers or to gain a better understanding of market opportunities.

AI is changing the way we work and live, opening up new ways to address problems in almost every field of human activity. It is when we recognise it as a tool for the present that its true potential can be realised: to help us as we drive toward a society and economy that is greener, more productive, and more innovative. To get there, though, we need to create the right conditions for the use of AI here and now.

In July 2021, the Government launched the National AI Strategy, AI: Here for Good, to provide high-level direction to the design, development, deployment, and governance of AI in Ireland. The strategy reflects our ambition to harness AI as a positive and transformative force for Ireland.

We want to support more businesses to benefit from AI and to help those

businesses already using AI to achieve more sustainable growth through trustworthy systems. We will do this by building on Ireland’s existing capabilities, our thriving community of indigenous SMEs, and the presence of world-leading software and ICT industries.

In an effort to boost the uptake of digital technology, including AI, we have established a Digital Transition Fund. This €85 million multiannual fund will run until 2026 as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. This funding will help businesses as they work to become more productive, to develop new business models, and expand into new markets.

As an enterprise ecosystem, Ireland is already well positioned to harness the potential offered by AI. Many of the largest technology companies have an established presence here, we have an agile and highly skilled workforce, a record of scientific excellence, and a strong drive for innovation.

To further help our SMEs as they look to the opportunities offered by AI and other digital technologies, the Government has committed to establishing several European Digital

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Innovation Hubs (EDIH), which will offer upskilling, innovation and advisory services to enterprises and public authorities in areas aligned to AI, as well as offering technical expertise, research facilities, and experimentation.

At the core of each EDIH will be a research and technology organisation, or a higher education institution lab. These hubs will serve as the first stop for businesses looking to implement AI and other digital technologies. They will also serve as SME incubators, offering access to infrastructure, technologies, and test beds.

While all the EDIHs will engage with SMEs and help them as they adopt AI, one will be specifically designated the National AI Digital Innovation Hub. This hub will serve as the national first stop for AI, acting as a point of contact for businesses as they engage with AI adoption and the broader AI innovation ecosystem.

We are also working to assemble an Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum (EDAF), which I will chair. This forum will comprise representatives of enterprise –both large and small – AI experts, academics, and state bodies. It will work with government to drive enterprise adoption of AI and other digital technologies.

Ultimately, if AI is to be truly inclusive and have a positive impact on all of us, we need to be clear on its role in society and ensure trust in AI is the ultimate marker of its success. To facilitate this, the National AI Strategy is underpinned by three core principles: the adoption of a human-centric approach to AI; staying open and adaptable to new innovations; and ensuring good governance to build trust and confidence so that innovation can flourish.

By making human rights and ethical principles a key focus of the National AI Strategy, Ireland is making a commitment to ensuring AI-based systems and solutions developed and used here are trustworthy, fair, and inclusive. Founded on these core principles, it is our ambition that we can put Ireland at the very forefront of a people-centred, ethical, and responsible rollout of AI.

The Government will also appoint an AI Ambassador to promote awareness among the public and businesses of the potential AI has to offer, serving as a champion of AI as a positive force for the economy and for society as a whole, emphasising an ethical approach. To inform the work of the AI Ambassador, we will soon begin discussions on young people’s attitudes to, concerns

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As with all new technologies, there is a degree of risk involved in the implementation of AI, and it is important we be cognisant of those risks. While it is true AI has unique potential to help us further our ambitions as a society, we must temper those ambitions with an awareness of the potential ethical implications of the deployment of AI.

The Government’s vision is for Ireland to become a leading country in the use of AI to benefit our citizens through a people-centred and ethical approach to AI adoption and use. The National AI Strategy will serve as a roadmap as we work towards that goal, adopting AI to the benefit of business and society in an inclusive and responsible manner.

about, and visions for an AI-powered future using Comhairle na nÓg, the national structure for consultation with young people.

AI can help us to address long-standing challenges in areas like public health, education, housing, and urban development, to name just a few. While government has a role to play in facilitating and enabling the use of AI for the public good, this is a journey that will involve all of us, as a society.

Ireland can become a leading international hub for the ethical and responsible use of AI, and we all stand to benefit from that.

“The Government’s vision is for Ireland to become a leading country in the use of AI…”

Minister of State Robert Troy TD

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Public sector takes to the cloud

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The accelerated adoption of digital and cloud technologies during the pandemic, has demonstrated how fast paced change is possible. People’s willingness to embrace new ways of doing things saw levels of digital transformation occur in weeks that had previously taken years.

Back in October 2019, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer had already called for a switch to cloudfirst thinking, declaring that “the decision to be made now is what, how and when to move to cloud”. As it turned out, agencies had to make those decisions

much sooner than expected when the first lockdown happened at the end of March 2020.

Over the next 18 months, public service agencies demonstrated a capacity to pivot in the face of an unprecedented crisis and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Citizens took to the cloud and the number of MyGovID accounts soared. The challenge now is to build on what has been achieved. There is a golden opportunity for public sector leaders to maintain the momentum and continue to transform, powered by the needs of their own

organisations and the citizens they serve.

Rethink cloud journeys

The business case for cloud has always been built on the promise of resilience, agility, scale, speed and responsiveness. Covid-19 has made it hard to argue with the benefits, but more importantly, it has changed the conversation about the fundamentals of what the cloud can do for government.

Many public sector leaders still prioritise so-called sovereign clouds, where the starting point was always about securing data and regulatory responsibility, but reasons to migrate to public clouds are now too compelling to ignore. During lockdown they became enablers for citizens, partners, and employees to interact remotely. Cloud is now seen as a way to transform and modernise operating models, rather than a static repository for sharing information and data.

After a year of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, the cloud is also recognised as a safer place to host IT infrastructure and services.

Organisations know they could never match the huge investments cloudproviders are making to keep their platforms secure, especially around building solutions natively on public clouds.

With security becoming part of the public cloud business case, governments can start to think about other cloud benefits and look more at nurturing innovation. We know from Accenture’s Cloud Continuum research that public service executives understand the opportunity. 57 per cent believe that accelerating cloud is business critical; 83 per cent agree or strongly agree that cloud is essential to fuel innovation and new business models. The next step is to identify service areas that will reap the biggest rewards.

Rapid adoption of cloud services during the pandemic has changed the roadmap for public sector organisations, according to Jonathan Maguire, Accenture’s Health and Public Services Cloud First Lead, with all signs pointing to more agile services and better citizen engagement.

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Personalise at scale

One priority will be about serving citizens through their channels of choice at a time of their choosing. There have been huge technological developments in this area, such as virtual interactions and automated customer service, with more to come. Fuelled by AI and machine learning, these operations require the huge computer power and scale that cloud provides; ensuring that more citizens can be served more quickly without compromising their experience.

This is partly about personalisation, providing tailored services across previously siloed departments, where citizen information is shared by joinedup agencies, ‘raising all boats’ in the transition from physical to digital engagement. At the core is data, or the insights that can be derived from it. The challenge is extracting meaningful insights from an array of data sources in legacy applications, as well as new volume-intensive sources, such as body-worn cameras.

For example, the pandemic proved what’s possible with track and trace and the Covid Tracker app, where real-time data is shared across public and private sector organisations for societal good. New services were created in days rather than months by using the cloud to ingest, process and analyse data from multiple sources, and the time to actionable insights was dramatically shortened.

Scale is the other component. One of the long-standing cloud benefits has been the way services can be ‘flexed’

up and down to meet changing demand. This was highlighted during the pandemic when, for example, the Department of Social Protection utilised cloud-enabled systems to cope with the huge surge in benefit payments. It plays to another cloud strength that strikes a chord with public sector bodies facing significant budgetary restrictions: services can be configured to make sure they only pay for what they need and use.

Migrate and innovate

Responsive cloud components provide a blueprint for modernising public services. Not least is a flexible and accessible technology architecture that increases the potential for cross-agency and external partner informationsharing. Taking the decision to decouple from legacy and migrate to the cloud will break down silos and deliver true digital transformation, but there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Simply doing a ‘lift and shift’ of existing applications never makes the most of the cloud opportunity. At worst, you simply relocate less-than-perfect legacy solutions and end up paying more than before because of cloud consumption costs. A much smarter migration is the one that takes the opportunity to modernise applications, leveraging different platforms to rethink and optimise value and quality of service.

Cloud is now seen as key enabler for more green and sustainable public services. According to Accenture’s The Green Behind the Cloud report, migrating on-premise applications to a

Five steps for successful cloud journeys

1. Leadership teams define an outcomes-based vision that everyone in the agency understands.

2. Prioritise citizen and workforce experiences by reimagining how your agency operates.

3. Define a cloud journey and new IT structure that enables execution of the agency vision.

4. Establish standard practices to support ongoing adoption of new technologies and operating models.

5. Build a decoupled IT architecture reducing the constraints of legacy, enabling hybrid IT modernisation and cloud adoption.

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hyper-scale cloud platform can reduce carbon emissions by more than 84 per cent and cut energy usage by 65 per cent.

There is no doubt that cloud-based platforms can support governments to provide better services, cost-effectively, quickly and more sustainably, facilitating new types of citizen interaction. People from all walks of life have shown an appetite for change during the pandemic that the public sector must do its best to satisfy. Quite simply, it’s too big an opportunity to miss.

E: j.m.maguire@accenture.com

W: www.accenture.com

“We know from Accenture’s Cloud Continuum research that public service executives understand the opportunity. 57 per cent believe that accelerating cloud is business critical; 83 per cent agree or strongly agree that cloud is essential to fuel innovation and new business models.”

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Post Covid-19: The future of digital public services services

Irish Government CIO at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Barry Lowry, discusses the acceleration of digital public services use and the influence on the forthcoming National Digital Strategy

Highlighting the acceleration of digital services since the outset of the pandemic, the Government CIO believes that changed habits are here to stay and must be built upon if Ireland is to achieve its digital first ambitions.

Speaking in broader terms than government alone, Lowry points to significant shifts in purchasing habits but also in businesses, with digital pervading in sectors in ways that were never thought possible in 2019.

“Circumstances have forced organisations to rethink the entire way in which they work, and they have had to respond, or they wouldn’t be here,” states Lowry, emphasising that governments have also had to change.

The CIO is quick to point out that while the past two years of pandemic have served to accelerate uptake and interaction with digital public services, acceleration has built on a trend of constant improvement.

Gov.ie, the central portal for government services and information didn’t exist in 2016 but by 2019 it had

achieved a “very respectable” five million hits for the year. However, between January and April 2020, the first few months of the pandemic, the portal had over 35 million visits.

Lowry points out that Gov.ie became to “go to” source of detailed information during the pandemic covering everything from infection figures to accessing emergency benefits and obtaining Digital Covid Certificates.

Similarly, the number of verified MyGovID accounts also saw exponential growth from below 500,000 in early January 2020 to over 630,000 accounts in early May. Again, this was a spike that was building upon a steady growth from 8,300 in 2016 to 447,000 in 2019.

In 2020, this figure almost doubled to 929,000 and at the end of September 2021, almost 1.3 million verified accounts existed, meaning almost 40 per cent of the Irish adult population now have a MyGovID verified account.

The figures mean that Ireland has moved ahead of many heavy-hitting digital countries and research by

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Gartner recently showed Ireland to be the fastest growing country in the world in terms of uptake and usage of digital ID accounts.

However, Lowry is quick to point out that there is still work to be done. In the latest DESI 2021 figures, while Ireland ranks at fifth place overall, it is 17th amongst EU member states for the eGovernment Services. Ireland’s 69 per cent score is below the EU member state average of 71 per cent.

The CIO believes that Ireland needs to go further than good growth and evolution of digital public services and actively push digital government at every opportunity, as is being done in many other EU countries.

Collaboration

The Government CIO outlines that beyond uptake and usage of digital services, the pandemic has also served as an accelerant of collaboration. Pointing to the emergence of Ireland’s Covid Tracker app and the digital

Covid certificate as two very successful pieces of technology, he outlines that the projects were delivered through the excellent collaboration between five public service bodies and four private sector partners, who were never all in the same room together.

Lowry says that those projects are also exemplars of pandemic-driven innovation; the previously untested use of Bluetooth to identify contacts was successfully delivered in a very short space of time and APIs, QR codes and cloud were all critical elements of the Digital Covid Certificate solution.

Collaboration is being taken further by the Government’s The Future Tech Challenge pilot competition, a collaboration between Ireland’s public service and private sector actors to drive innovation and technology adoption in order to solve pressing public service challenges.

In October 2021, the Our Public Service team invited nine public service bodies to pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts across

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three categories of remote connectivity; artificial intelligence; and cloud computing, with the winning projects securing services to the value of €100,000 and a partnership with an industry leader to develop their projects into fruition.

Pan-European digital

Lowry also contends that the two years since the onset of the pandemic have presented opportunities for digital government interoperability. He expresses his disappointment that the EU was not able to act on Ireland’s offer to deliver the digital tracker app together but says that that delivering interoperable systems was the next best step.

In seeking to deliver on its ambitions for a digital decade, the European Commission has launched the communication Digital Compass: The European Way for the Digital Decade identifying four main goals to reach over the next decade in the form of:

1. a digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals;

2. secure and sustainable digital infrastructures;

3. digital transformation of businesses; and

4. digitalisation of public services.

Lowry states that the four compass points will

be the basis for Ireland’s National Digital Strategy to be published in January 2022. However, meeting some of the targets will be challenging. For example, in relation to eHealth the communication calls for 100 per cent availability of medical records digitally. Another challenge will be the ambition to have 20 million plus people skilled as ICT specialists in the EU, which equates to around 6 or 7 per cent of Ireland’s workforce. Significant steps will be taken to raise current levels of around 4 per cent of the workforce working in digital.

“At government level we have responded to the challenges coming from Europe and to some extent we have gone further in that we’re working to not just have government services available digitally, but that they are actually being consumed.

“Importantly, digital government is not just for those who can do digital. It is also about freeing up resources for those who cannot. The message from government going forward has to be that the use of technology can facilitate not just a better service for people that are comfortable with using it, but a better service for everyone,” Lowry states.

Re-emphasising the need to build upon pandemic-driven acceleration of digital public services, Lowry concludes: “2021 was a pivotal year and a year that we will build upon.”

“The message from government going forward has to be that the use of technology can facilitate not just a better service for people that are comfortable with using it, but a better service for everyone.”

eInvoicing: Taxing times across Europe

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It is gradually becoming more important for Irish suppliers to be able to issue invoices in a structured electronic format in order to compete for cross border trade in the EU. There is also a growing trend by public administrations across Europe to further leverage eInvoicing to simplify tax reporting and compliance, reduce administrative costs for businesses and enable real-time management of aspects of both government and business finances.

How public bodies enabled eInvoicing

Electronic invoicing is changing the face of how we do business, and today public administrations across the EU are reaping the benefits of this digital milestone.

From day one, the OGP provided vital supports and advice around eInvoicing and it continues to play a crucial role in the entire process.

Since April 2020 when the European Union made it a legal requirement for all public bodies to be able to process electronic invoices, the OGP has been there every step of the way.

Firstly, the OGP set up an eInvoicing Ireland Programme to help public bodies

eInvoicing is proving popular across Europe. Last year alone saw Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Hungary move towards extending or introducing mandatory electronic Invoicing (eInvoicing) in their societies.

Oonagh Hackett, eInvoicing Ireland Programme Manager in the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), outlines a number of new policies and initiatives across Europe that shine a light on opportunities made possible when eInvoicing is the norm.

transition to eInvoicing and meet their legal obligations.

Hackett explains: “A national approach was established for public bodies in Ireland to support the receipt of EU standard eInvoices through the Peppol network.

“To receive and process eInvoices, public bodies must avail of a service to connect to the Peppol network, and likewise, suppliers who wish to send eInvoices must avail of a similar connection service.

“So, the OGP established a National Framework Agreement to provide eInvoicing and Peppol networking services to the public sector in Ireland.”

The eInvoicing service providers on the Framework connect public bodies to the Peppol network and offer solutions to enable compliance with the EU Directive around eInvoicing.

Hackett adds: “To date, our clients from across all sectors of the public service have found the framework easy to use to access the eInvoicing solutions and can now process EU standard eInvoices from suppliers.

“Getting suppliers on board is not as easy as they are not obliged to send

eInvoices. Generally, where eInvoicing has been made mandatory for suppliers, like, for example, in Italy or Norway, the take up is very high.”

Reaping the benefits

Therefore, the focus now must move to suppliers and how to entice more of them to sign up to eInvoicing. From a business perspective, the more people using eInvoicing, the better as there are so many benefits to this digital process.

One of the most obvious and timely advantages to eInvoicing is the environmental impact. As the climate crisis intensifies, using less paper and reducing the associated energy and costs for transport and storage is always welcome.

As there is a standardised approach to eInvoicing across Ireland and Europe, it makes it easier for suppliers to do business with government agencies. Once suppliers are up and running with an eInvoicing system, they can also use it for other transactions.

Mandatory

Some member states have made eInvoicing mandatory for suppliers, others have introduced electronic

ordering and payments, while others have even established mandatory eInvoicing for business to business (B2B).

France has been ahead of the curve on eInvoicing. Since January 2020, all suppliers to the public sector were required to issue eInvoices. This year, France announced plans for B2B eInvoicing. The gradual mandate will start with large enterprises in 2024, extending to SMEs in 2026.

In Belgium, the Walloon regional Government say that eInvoicing will be the preferred option from next year. From January 2022, they will no longer accept invoices via email in PDF or word format. eInvoicing is already mandatory in other areas of Belgium.

In Poland, eInvoicing will also be the only option from January 2023, replacing the current paper and email invoices.

Hackett says: “Over the last year, we are seeing a trend as governments look to push the boundaries further and harness the potential of eInvoicing for tax reporting, compliance and real-time management of finance.

“In Italy, for example, both public and private sector invoices are processed through a centralised system known as the Sistema di Interscambio (SDI) which is controlled by the tax authority.

“Mandatory eInvoicing allows the tax authority to simplify tax compliance for businesses via the automatic capture of data in real-time from invoices. Italy estimates, around €2 billion could be directly attributed to the improvement in VAT compliance following the introduction of the measure.”

Hackett continues: “Furthermore, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in a recent submission to the European Commission, the Italian Government noted how data from mandatory eInvoicing proved to be of great help in analysing the changes in the economy associated with the health crisis, and in putting into place the most appropriate support measures.”

Leveraging eInvoicing data to help make tax administrations more effective for the greater good of economy and society is also an objective for other European countries such as France and Hungary.

It’s clear to see the wide-reaching benefits of eInvoicing, and the eInvoicing Ireland team along with partners in Central Government, Health, Education and Local Government will continue to

raise awareness about the intrinsic value of this digital process for both suppliers and buyers.

The National Standard Authority of Ireland (NSAI) also plays a part in promoting the use of eInvoicing and is producing guidance for suppliers to support them in making this digital switch.

Several other initiatives are underway across the public service to enable suppliers get on board with eInvoicing, and crucially, to then reap the benefits for the future.

Office of Government Procurement eInvoicing supports for Public Bodies

To facilitate public bodies in reaching compliance with the eInvoicing Directive, the Office of Government Procurement

For further information

established a National Framework Agreement for the provision of eInvoicing and Peppol networking services to the public sector in Ireland.

The eInvoicing service providers on the Framework connect public bodies to the Peppol network and offer solutions and services to enable basic compliance with the Directive as well as a more fully integrated approach to eInvoicing, facilitating ‘straight-through processing’. eInvoicing and straight-through processing helps businesses pay and receive money faster and more efficiently.

T: +353 1 773 8310

E: oonagh.hackett@ogp.gov.ie / einvoicing@ogp.gov.ie

W: https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/ office-of-government-procurement

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Please log onto www.gov.ie/en/publication/d2be0-einvoicing-ireland/ or contact: einvoicing@ogp.gov.ie

Accessing the Framework

For anyone looking to access the OGP eInvoicing Framework, please log onto the OGP Buyer Zone via www.buyerzone.gov.ie/ and select/ search as follows:

Category: Managed Services Keyword: ‘PEPPOL’ or ‘eInvoicing systems’

OGP Clients must register to gain access to the Buyer zone available to all public service buyers accessing live contracts/frameworks.

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The EU’s digital decade

In March 2021, the European Commission laid out its vision for digital transformation in Europe from 2021 to 2030, a timeframe it is terming the EU’s ‘Digital Decade’.

The Commission plans to use both “a robust joint governance framework to monitor progress and address insufficiencies” and “multi-country projects combining investments from the EU, member states and the private sector” to achieve the targets it has set out for the digital decade. The most notable of these targets fall under four main groupings.

Skills: In terms of digital skills, the Commission aims for there to be at least 20 million ICT specialists in Europe, with gender convergence in this workforce. It is also hoped that a minimum of 80 per cent of the European population will possess basic digital skills by 2030.

Digital infrastructure: “Gigabit for everyone, 5G everywhere” reads the first of the Commission’s aims in this regard, with plans also afoot to double the EU’s share in global production of cutting-edge semiconductors. In terms of edge and cloud data, the Commission plans to have 10,000 climate neutral highly secure edge nodes by 2030. It also hopes to see the building of the EU’s first computer with quantum acceleration.

Digital transformation of business: The Commission has set a target of 75 per cent of EU companies using cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and/or big data by 2030. It plans to “grow scale ups” and finance and to double the number of EU unicorn companies, a process that has already begun, with 23 companies becoming unicorns in 2021 as of June, compared to just eight in the whole of 2020. It is also hoped that more than 90 per cent of European SMEs will “reach at least a basic level of digital intensity”.

Digitalisation of public services: The Commission has set ambitious targets for the governments of its member states, with 100 per cent of key public services to be available online and 100 per cent of citizens having access to digital medical records by 2030 if targets are met. The Commission has also set an 80 per cent target for citizens using digital ID.

A framework of digital principles will be established to “help promote and uphold EU values in the digital space”, with the framework to be “identified through a wide societal debate”. Examples given by the Commission as to what this debate could concern include:

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• Digital rights

o Freedom of expression and access to diverse, trustworthy information;

o Freedom to conduct business online;

o Protection of personal data and privacy; and

o Protection of the intellectual creations of individuals.

• Digital principles

o A secure and trusted online environment;

o Universal digital education and skills;

o Access to digital systems and devices that respect the environment;

o Accessible and human-centred digital public services;

o Ethical principles for human-centred algorithms;

o Protecting and empowering children online; and

o Access to digital health services.

The Commission proposes to reach the above targets and build the governance framework through its Path to the Digital Decade, which will be based on an “annual cooperation mechanism” between the Commission and member states, whereby the Commission will develop projected trajectories and the member states will formulate national roadmaps to meet these targets.

This proposed cooperation mechanism will consist of a “structured, transparent and shared monitoring system” which will be based on the Digital Economy and Society Index, an annual progress report throughout the digital decade, multi-annual digital decade national roadmaps, a “structured framework to discuss and address areas of insufficient progress through joint commitments between the Commission and member states”, and a mechanism to “support the implementation of multi-country projects”.

The Commission has explained that these multi-county projects will typically involve investment in areas such as data infrastructure, low-power processors, 5G communication, high performance computing, secure communication, public administration, blockchain, digital innovation hubs and digital skills. The Commission advises that each member state set aside 20 per cent of the funding received under the Covid-related Recovery and Resilience Facility for digital transition projects.

An example of a possible multi-country project offered by the Commission is a network of security operations centres, powered by AI, with the goal of anticipating, detecting and responding to cyberattacks at the national and EU level. These multicountry projects “could”: combine investments from the EU budget, including the Facility, from member states and the private sector; address gaps in the identified critical capacities of the EU; and support an interconnected, interoperable, and secure digital single market. A European Digital Infrastructure Consortium is newly available to “help interested member states speed up and simplify the implementation” of these projects.

The EU states that it plans to “promote its human-centred digital agenda” globally in order to promote “alignment or convergence with EU norms and standards” and will attempt to build international partnerships by investing in improved connectivity with the EU’s partners, designing digital economy packages, and building a toolbox of regulatory cooperation, capacity building and international investment. Possible areas of cooperation mentioned include 6G, quantum computing and the use of technology to fight climate change.

The Commission is currently in discussion with member states and the European Parliament, as well as economic and social partners, in an effort to progress towards an inter-institutional declaration on digital principles by the end of 2021. Such a declaration would then allow the Commission to develop projected trajectories for each target within its Path to the Digital Decade together with member states and allow those states to formulate their national plans.

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Pexip simplifying video communications for Irish organisations

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Global video conferencing software provider, Pexip, is trusted by many governments and public sector organisations for delivering secure and scalable video communications. Its unique offering simplifies video communications by unifying meeting participants across multiple platforms and devices; something which is proving to be extremely valuable as hybrid working becomes the norm.

Niall Doyle, Pexip’s Ireland Country Manager, outlines how Pexip is transforming the way video is being used and the benefits it brings to Irish organisations: “At Pexip one of our primary focuses is to remove complexity from collaboration. Our solutions can be easily integrated with existing collaboration tools to extend the reach and efficiency of these systems within organisations, as well as maximising return on investment by replacing the need to ‘rip and replace’ legacy

infrastructure. As the requirement for video continues to grow throughout Ireland, Pexip is supporting mixed technology environments, which is essential to unify hybrid workplaces with teams in multiple locations.”

The experience

Now that users have become more comfortable with video, the focus has shifted to the experience, namely the ease of use, video, and audio quality.

Users want to be able to schedule a meeting and connect quickly and easily regardless of technology or location and ultimately have a high-quality experience. The term ‘video fatigue’ has been used in line with experience. This is something that Pexip believes is a result of poor video experience and the number of meetings that people are having.

“Delivering an outstanding user experience is a key focus of Pexip’s and in turn reducing video fatigue with adaptive composition,” says Doyle. “Removing black screens, our adaptative composition automatically arranges the screen layout to elevate large groups and active speakers. It also automatically crops, pans and tilts so users can maintain better eye contact and focus on their conversation but most importantly, it works on any device or platform.”

Doyle adds, “Innovation is at the core of everything we do and that is why Pexip continues to break down the barriers that exist between collaboration platforms to create a simple, effective video solution that enables users to connect from any device at any time, from anywhere. We are already using AI to improve the user experience in video calls and recently announced a key partnership with Nvidia to further enhance the quality of our virtual meetings.”

Interoperability and flexibility

Pexip works with customers to understand their individual business needs and where Pexip and video can provide additional value to their existing workflows. The interoperability of Pexip offers a winning solution to organisations, who nowadays work with many different collaboration tools, by bringing these platforms together and removing the traditional barriers for truly pervasive video collaboration.

Niall Doyle

Pexip is also supporting organisations in their journey to being more flexible for their team. “Whether a customer is on a Microsoft Teams journey and looking to connect to existing/legacy endpoints or video systems, looking at integrating video into their customer workflows and customer journeys through contact centre integrations, or video enabling existing customer portals with video services (for example virtual banking) Pexip can help,” says Niall. “We are the only provider who can truly provide a ‘browser to the boardroom’ type experience.”

From a strategic perspective Pexip see their core success driven by delivering vertical solutions through their partners that enhance workflows and provide deeper and richer video integration for productivity enhancement. Pexip has already proven the value in replacing previously physical processes with a virtual solution as demonstrated through some of the solutions they have provided to public sector organisations in Ireland.

Secure tailored solutions

High security and data sovereignty is of paramount importance to Pexip when building its innovative, scalable software solutions. This is one of the reasons that Pexip is used by healthcare providers throughout Ireland to provide telehealth solutions for remote communication between healthcare professionals and their patients.

The Court Service of Ireland also utilise Pexip’s secure video solutions to facilitate remote hearings which helped to ease the backlog of legal cases heightened by the pandemic. The success of this solution has helped to pave the way for ‘hybrid hearings’ to be considered as a model for the future.

Doyle adds: “The healthcare and government sectors have really benefited from the successful implementation of integrated video solutions to enhance their existing services, tools and workflows as well as improving user experience. Pexip’s wide range of APIs enables services like telehealth consultations and virtual court hearings and is the platform powering many of these applications.”

Launched only a year ago, Pexip Health has strengthened Pexip’s reputation in the healthcare field by enabling healthcare providers to extend the reach of their practice, providing secure, easyto-join telehealth visits for patients from any device or location. The use of Pexip’s APIs means that those providing

care can use their own technologies to meet virtually with patients so there is no need to purchase any additional hardware or tools.

To ensure that user data is stored securely and is protected, Pexip offers multiple deployment options. “We can provide a public cloud service or a private cloud service, or we can provide an on-premises deployment,” explains Doyle. “With an on-prem solution the customer can deploy a full video service on their own network using their own data centres. The recent cyber-attack on the HSE highlights the importance of security and the impact a breach of security can have. Security is one of our founding principles and we operate and maintain the highest standards of security globally. We have several very security conscious customers using our services, including the courts services both in the North and the South of Ireland.”

The future for Pexip

Pexip’s strategy aligned to 2024 is to build upon the current business model

and accelerate growth by supercharging the existing sales model and expanding the current product offering. The company works with valued customers in the healthcare, judicial and enterprise sectors in Ireland and provides local support to the large multi-national and global customers headquartered in Ireland as well as supporting the public sector with vertical solutions for government.

Pexip plans to invest further in its headcount in Ireland for technical and partner management across the next three years. Pexip does not sell directly; 100 per cent of revenue is delivered through an accredited partner community and Pexip actively supports the growth of its Irish partners.

With the advent of the new video economy, and with video moving out of the meeting rooms to a broad range of applications, Pexip is powering that shift to a video-enabled world.

E: niall.doyle@pexip.com

W: www.pexip.com

“We are the only provider who can truly provide a ‘browser to the boardroom’ type experience.”

technology and innovation report

A tradition of innovation

Damian Griffin of the Defence Forces of Ireland discusses the creation of the new Research, Technology, and Innovation (RTI) unit with an ambition to deliver world class capability.

Griffin is the capability lead of the recently established civil-military Research Technology and Innovation unit within the Defence Organisation established in January 2021.

Setting the context for the creation of the Unit, a concept which emerged in 2019, Griffin states that the Defence Forces has had innovation at the core of its operations for decade and has excelled in innovation in many scenarios spanning the world.

However, Griffin acknowledges the enabling capability of innovation in multiplying and empowering organisations throughout the public sector.

“Innovation has become a business bingo term over the last number of years and as a term, is becoming quite crowded,” he admits. “As organisations we are all trying to discover the that magic formula to bound us into the future. However, the reality is that we are quite weak at predicting the future. Where we are strong is on how we remember success has been achieved and made commonplace.”

Griffin acknowledges that innovation, as a military capability, has until now not been the focus of specific resourcing across the Defence Forces but believes that “the curiosity to explore innovation has the potential to empower more confidence for our citizens and for our organisations”.

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Outlining the unique position of the military and other frontline organisations when trying to embed innovation, in that, they are not afforded the luxury of choosing their operational challenges, he asserts that Covid has served to highlight how organisations like the Defence Forces must strive to keep ahead of a changing world, which delivers the unexpected.

“Incremental improvement will not suffice with the pace and demands of today’s world. We can only succeed by being a more agile Defence Forces, that nurtures innovation in all of its forms and which builds an identity to deliver innovation for defence and defence of the future,” he states.

Discussing the emergence of the RTI unit, he says. “We needed a unit that would challenge the status quo in the correct way and that would help augment our decision making and build a diverse eco-system.

Partnership

Offering an example of work already underway, Griffin points to a partnership with Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) which saw the launch of the SFI-Defence Organisation Innovation Challenge, an invitation to academic research teams to work with the Defence Forces and innovate on specific challenges, including medical technologies, disaster relief, climate and ICT.

The Defence Forces will embed their subject matter experts and logistic support with the academic teams, identifying challenges to the organisation and translating meaningful solutions.

“What we have seen is the energy and freedom to solve real problems in this nature is so palpable,” says Griffin.

technology and innovation report

“We needed a safe place for thinking differently, where it would be welcomed, fostered and of course, amplified.”

The unit launched in January 2021, empowered by an organisation-wide feasibility study, which Griffin says provided a comprehensive blueprint for building the first dedicated civil-military unit.

“The unit is developing within the Defence Forces, and we have the operations to deliver a world class capability but of course for that we need seamless innovation culture. We know we cannot do this alone and so we are looking for collaboration across the greater ecosystem of the public, government, academia, industry, media and of course, the Irish start-up community,” he explains.

“The RTI unit can be a focus on where innovation lives on the day-to-day within defence. We are a focal point, but we cannot predict the future. We must question how we support this ecosystem of innovators, explore new ideas, learn quickly and iterate.”

“This nature of partnership will allow the Defence Forces to further develop its organisational innovation radar. It is going to allow us to enable rapid instigation and response to change in an ever more agile future. We cannot plan for everything, but we have to have something in place that will allow us to be that way more proactive.”

The capability lead adds: “This unit is not the single point of truth. We have to build franchises.

We have to empower people to experience a culture that allows space and time to switch from that ‘fixed’ to ‘growth’ mindset, where we all know creativity will be set free.”

Griffin says that alongside processes and technology, the core of innovation in the Defence Forces will continue to be its people.

“We have that legacy of innovating but that in itself will no longer be enough. That is why we are accelerating towards an innovative future.

Our success will be laying the foundation for future innovators and establishing that culture to help them succeed. It must be more agile and innovative than we have ever been before,” he concludes.

“Incremental improvement will not suffice with the pace and demands of today’s world.”

technology and innovation report

Most importantly, it alerted the Irish Government to the dangers of an underresourced cyberdefence network. Since the attack, it has pledged €2.5 million in funding for the National Cyber Security Centre. This is good news; more resources will help protect Ireland’s critical infrastructure from future disruption.

The EU, too, is funnelling more money and minds towards cybersecurity threats. The Commission presented its plan for the Joint Cyber Unit in June; if approved, it will allow member state capitals to pool resources and provide mutual assistance should a catastrophic cyberattack occur.

Two new EU laws, updates to NIS2 (Security of Network and Information Systems Directive) and CERD (Critical Entities Resilience Directive), will require critical sectors to have more robust cybersecurity policies, reporting procedures, and stronger physical protection of their technical infrastructure.

This increased cybersecurity awareness is not a coincidence. There has been a dramatic increase in our usage, reliance and dependence on digital tools, systems and applications during a year and a half of lockdowns and semirestricted trading. A successful cyberattack could conceivably put many SMEs out of business. Indeed, according to a 2021 Hiscox report, one in six businesses surveyed said a cyberattack this year had ‘materially threatened the solvency or viability of the company’. The same Hiscox report shows that the median cost of an attack on a micro-business is $8,000. SMEs, which make up 99 per cent of Irish businesses, are regular targets for cybercriminals.

From .IE’s work with SMEs, including our .IE Digital Town programme1 and .IE Tipping Point research2, we know that when it comes to digital, SMEs are frequently concerned about a lack of skills, time, and money. This means many SMEs de-prioritise important digital best practices, such as cybersecurity. Fortunately, the risk of being a victim of a cyberattack can be decreased dramatically with good security hygiene.

United we stand

The beginning of a trend towards greater cooperation between government bodies, business and law enforcement is a very welcome development in the fight to contain damage inflicted by cyber criminals. Clearly, we are stronger if we are united in building defences and cyber skills.

Guided by its multi-stakeholder policy advisory committee, .IE has commissioned a third party to provide ongoing monitoring and alerting services for its registrar/hosting channel. To date the service has helped over 300 SMEs and citizens, who are innocent victims of attacks related to phishing, bots and malware which had targeted their .ie domains.

In addition, .IE has protocols with regulatory bodies, see www.weare.ie/governance for more detail, which result in suspension or deletion of .ie domains which operate fake webshops or offer for sale banned products, services or medicines.

Thanks to the managed registry model operated by .IE, Ireland has a less risky namespace when compared to .com or .co.uk. All new .ie domain registrations

require documentary proof of a connection to Ireland, which is then manually verified by the .IE team.

Owners of .ie domains can also avail of two additional security features that are provided by the registry: DNSSEC and Registry Lock. DNSSEC uses cryptography to add an extra layer of security to users’ networks, while Registry Lock protects a domain from malicious or accidental modification.

All .ie website owners can also avail of an independently provided security certificate, which proves to visitors that a website is legitimate and secure. Our analysis shows that 40 per cent of .ie websites have security certificates. While it isn’t yet a majority, it demonstrates that the number of active .ie websites had a 44 per cent increase year-on-year.

Recognising cyber scams

Most attempts at malicious entry to a computer network are opportunistic. Billions of personal and commercial email addresses and phone numbers are in circulation on the dark web. Hackers will routinely target large segments of these addresses and numbers in the hope that a tiny percentage of people will fall for their scam.

As a result, the vast majority of successful cyberattacks depend entirely on deception. For example, a hacker might send an email that appears to be from a legitimate company, such as a bank, courier, or a subscription service that someone is likely to use, such as Netflix or Amazon. Typically, these emails claim that the user’s account will

The ransomware attack on the HSE’s IT system in May 2021 showed Ireland that cybersecurity can no longer be taken for granted, writes David Curtin, CEO of .IE, the company that manages .ie, the preferred online address for business in Ireland.

be deleted if they do not take action. The user is directed to a dummy login page and enters their password and payment details, which are then stolen. This form of attack is described as a phishing attack.

Other malicious emails request that you download a file, which is typically an executable file (.exe) disguised as an image, text document, or spreadsheet. When the user opens and initialises the file, the ransomware is deployed. The effect may be immediate or take days, weeks, or even months to surface, but the consequences are always the same: the user is logged out of its systems, when the hard drive is maliciously encrypted by the hacker. An automated message demands payment for the decryption key.

Security hygiene

All organisations, including SMEs, can take some basic steps to drastically reduce the likelihood of a cyberattack occurring:

1. Take updates seriously

It's easy to dismiss your antivirus or operating systems update notifications during a busy workday, but it’s in your organisation’s best interests to act quickly and install them.

These updates typically fix security holes in software, which hackers are notoriously quick to spot and exploit. Ensure all employees update when prompted. Security experts strongly recommend that you automate this task, to make it mandatory, and less prone to human lapses in security discipline.

2. Enforce your passwords policy

With more services and suppliers requiring sign-up details comes the temptation to reuse old passwords. While it’s convenient in the moment, the downside is that if your password becomes known to a hacker, all your accounts are at risk.

By using a password manager, such as 1Password or Dashlane, you only need to remember one master password. The password manager will create random passwords for all your other accounts, securing them with encryption.

3. Be on your guard

If an email offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Sceptically interrogating suspicious messages can be the difference between business as usual and a costly mistake.

Never open an attachment from a suspicious email’s sender. If in doubt, employees can check an address by safely hovering over it or clicking 'more details' in their email client. Be on the lookout for inconsistencies, unusual email addresses and mis-spelled domains.

4. Protect laptops when working from home

Using company laptops when working from home became commonplace during the Covid lockdown. Employees should be instructed to never, ever let their children or visitors use the company laptop to check their email, play music or surf the web. In particular,

never use a personal USB stick device on the company laptop.

Fundamentally, the same cybersecurity principle that applies to multinational corporations and governments applies to micro and small businesses: prevention.

Use a domain from a managed registry, such as .ie. Protect it with further security features, such as DNSSEC and Registry Lock. Acquire a security certificate from a third-party authenticator. Recognise danger and practise good security hygiene, and always update your software when prompted.

Through simple proactive steps, SMEs can drastically reduce their chance of falling victim to an expensive and potentially ruinous cyberattack. Make cybersecurity your organisation’s priority in 2022.

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technology and innovation report

Ireland climbs to fifth in DESI rankings

Founded in 2014, the DESI monitors the digital progress of EU member states each year, breaking each state’s performance down into four main categories: human capital; connectivity; integration of digital technology; and digital public services. Ireland is outperforming the EU average in all four of these categories.

In the Commission’s report on Ireland’s DESI score, particular mention is given to the performance of Irish SMEs and their level of digital activity, which falls under the integration of digital technology category. 66 per cent of Irish SMEs were found to have at least a basic level of digital intensity, compared to an EU average of 60 per cent; 32 per cent of SMEs are selling their goods and/or services online, compared to an EU average of 17 per cent; e-commerce

accounts for 27 per cent of Irish SME turnover, compared to the EU average of 12 per cent. However, Irish enterprise was found to be behind in electronic information sharing (28 per cent of enterprises versus an average of 36 per cent), use of AI (14 per cent versus 25 per cent) and use of e-invoices (19 per cent against 32 per cent).

Ireland’s performance for connectivity improved in 2020, climbing above the EU average. Marked improvement was recorded in fixed very high-capacity network (VHCN) coverage, which increased from 35 per cent to 83 per cent. Ireland ranks behind the EU average in 4G coverage (99 per cent of populated areas versus 99.7 per cent), 5G readiness (30 per cent versus 51 per cent) and broadband price index (63 versus 69), but ahead on 5G coverage

(30 per cent versus 14 per cent), fast broadband coverage (96 per cent of households versus 87 per cent), and overall fixed broadband take-up (78 per cent of households versus 77 per cent).

Ireland also scored well in the digital public services category, particularly in open data (92 per cent versus 78 per cent average) and providing digital public services for citizens (index score of 86 versus average of 75) and businesses (100 versus 84 on average). In terms of human capital, Ireland performs above the EU average in advanced digital skills, ICT specialists, female ICT specialists and ICT graduates, although the possession of basic digital skills (53 per cent of the population) are slightly lower than the EU average of 56 per cent.

Ireland has continued its ascent of the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) rankings, ranking fifth for 2021, having been sixth in 2020 and 2018, seventh in 2019 and eighth in 2016 and 2017.

Collaboration makes Digital Covid Certificate a success

extraordinary team effort cutting across several government departments and agencies. As well as generating and issuing millions of DCCs, there was also a need to establish a contact centre, steered by the Department of Health (DoH) to deal with citizen queries.

“We went from a standing start to delivering a DCC and standing up a call centre in record time,” says Derek Tierney, Head of Health Infrastructure at DoH. “When there's a clear mandate, a unity of purpose, and the right partnerships, no-one can surpass what the public sector can achieve.”

Tierney, who was Programme Director on the State’s High Level Task Force on Covid-19 Vaccination, was tasked with finding a way to establish a call-centre as part of rolling out Ireland’s DCC solution. Accenture proved to be a crucial partner in this end-to-end process. The first task was taking data from the HSE to allow the Office of the Government CIO team to build the solution to create the Digital Covid Certificate with a QR code.

Simultaneously, wheels were in motion to mobilise a call centre that would be available from day one to resolve citizen queries.

“The Accenture team provided the systems integration competency and the call centre solution and services, but more than that, they drew on emerging trends and made us think about how we designed the service, and how we understood the user journey,” explains Tierney.

deploying these solutions at scale: the contact centre solution was built using AWS Connect, with the Agent Case Management Solution built using Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The scale and ambition of the project, however, soon called for technologies that took the partnership into new territory. In the first weeks of operation, where around 60,000 calls were expected; it received more than 400,000. The pressure was on to scale up and automate. Different service channels were in place, but more was needed to cope with the volume of enquiries.

Accenture responded with leading-edge technologies. Secure digital verification tools were used to help verify citizens were who they said they were without manual intervention, and a solution called CALM (conversation analytics and language modelling) was deployed to analyse the intent of customers. Insights from the software was used to identify the most common queries, informing which responses could be automated.

“We had to accelerate a transition from a traditional agent-intensive service to a digital solution,” recalls Tierney.

“Working with Accenture, we were able to quickly deploy self-service options and managed to keep the public with us on the journey.”

and innovation report

When the EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC) regulation went live on 1 July, enabling national health authorities to issue digital covid certificates, the pressure was on European countries to deliver them to their citizens. On 19 July, less than three weeks later, the Irish Government was ready with its DCC, the culmination of an

Digital contact centre solutions

With a short deadline, Accenture worked collaboratively with the public sector to design, build and operate the multichannel call centre solution. The choice of cloud solutions was informed by the Irish public sector’s existing vendor relationships with Amazon and Microsoft, and Accenture’s record of

He describes a “collaborative partnership approach” that went way beyond a commercial relationship. “The Accenture team challenged our thinking and the traditional mindset in terms of how to go about designing and delivering a solution that allows the public engage with you across multiple channels,” says Tierney. “The last five years have seen a significant step forward in the provision of eGovernment services, with a steady uptake in service consumption, which then spiked enormously during the pandemic. This project builds on the ambition to evolve from eGovernment to digital government.”

and innovation

Home or hybrid work and device security

The human element (falling for phishing, scams, poor password practice) and technology and cloud-specific challenges (exploits targeting unpatched VPNs, misconfigured RDP servers, vulnerabilities, and user misconfiguration of SaaS offerings, as well as reports of stolen account passwords) pose the greatest threats of cybersecurity incidents.

The good news is that security experts like ESET have been promoting best practices in security for years. While there’s no silver bullet, the following will help to mitigate cyber-risk to hybrid working practices:

Ireland, along with most of the developed world, has seen a massive shift towards working from home or hybrid work in the past two years, due to the known health-related measures. But has security of the devices used kept up to pace?

A November article on TheJournal.ie, titled “We’re to ‘work from home unless it's absolutely necessary', so can the civil service set an example?”, quoted the Government’s advice that everyone should work from home “unless it is absolutely necessary” and told us that “The Association of Higher and Civil Public Servants (AHCPS) estimated in a survey during the summer that about 80 per cent of staff within various departments were either working remotely or were engaged in blended working”, while a July article in the Irish Times, “Civil servants could work from home up to March 2022”, commented on the speculations of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath TD that, conditioned by public health advice and the trajectory of the pandemic, individual departments and offices would finalise and rollout their long-term blended working policies and implementation plans “from September 2021 to March 2022”.

If not working from home entirely, many organisations have adapted hybrid work as their policy, which has further complicated managing devices because in many cases the line between home devices and office devices has blurred. In a hybrid work setup, some devices may remain in the office, while others will commute back and forth. This makes limiting use to a particular network complex, not to mention finding the extra time staying on top of security. Therefore, ensuring that the migration of both personal and work devices between home and office networks is secure may require enhanced tools and practices.

ESET research in 2021 found that 80 per cent of global businesses are confident their home-working employees have the knowledge and technology needed to handle cyberthreats. However, in the same study, three-quarters (73 per cent) admitted they are likely to be impacted by a cybersecurity incident, and half said they’d already been breached in the past.

• classify enterprise data flowing through the cloud and put in place appropriate controls;

• strong encryption for data residing in the cloud at rest and in transit;

• strong passwords (use a password manager);

• multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all accounts;

• restrict access to sensitive accounts with a policy of least privilege;

• prompt risk-based patching of all cloud servers and software;

• zero trust approach to reduce the impact of breaches; and

• regular staff security training on how to spot phishing and scams.

While technical measures like prompt patching are obviously vital, so are human considerations. Regular training and awareness sessions for all employees are a crucial component to enhancing any organisations cybersecurity posture. They may be the weakest link, but staff are also the first line of defence.

ESET Ireland

T: 053 914 66 00

E: info@eset.ie

W: eset.ie

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technology and innovation report

Health tech innovation in Ireland

YellowSchedule

YellowSchedule won the Best Healthcare Innovation piloted in an Irish healthcare setting award in 2021 for its innovative solution to managing and streamlining visitations. The technology allows for the self-scheduling of visits by nominated visitors, allowing ward capacity management to enable social distancing in the context of Covid-19, as well as Covid screening questionnaires and visitor check-in.

Piloted in South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in Cork, the digital solution automates the tasks of visitor management and contact tracing, and can also manage the verification of Covid vaccine certificates for the hospital.

TriMedika

TriMedika, in conjunction with the HSE, won the sustainability award for its TRITEMP product, a non-contact thermometer. With a 900-bed hospital

likely to use up to three million disposable thermometers per year, the reusable non-contact thermometer has been credited with both saving money and reducing waste in hospitals.

The TRITEMP is medically graded and accurate to within 0.2ºC, using infrared technology that collects infrared rays emitted by the patient, typically from the forehead. The thermometer then uses multiple algorithms to convert the temperature from the forehead to a core body temperature. The technology developed by the Belfast-based company is now used in over 500 hospitals, including 150 NHS sites.

Syncrophi

Syncrophi, in conjunction with the HSE’s Digital Transformation and National Medical Device Office teams, won in the patient safety category for its Vital Signs KEWS integration product. The KEWS 300, a paperless patient observation tool, is a software product that is deployed in hospitals at the point

of care to produce patient observation records. It allows caregivers to complete observations digitally though a tablet that is linked to the central station of the ward and to a server.

The tablet is connected to a vital signs monitor where possible via a cable with the output port of the monitor. The product then accepts direct feeds of data from the monitor while allowing for manual data inputs and possible overrides from the medical professional operating the machine. Once the data is saved by the caregiver, it is transmitted to the server and the ward’s central station and typically automatically fed to the EHR from the server in order to make the patient’s vital signs data immediately available to any authorised viewer. This quick uploading of the data allows ward managers to review patient acuity concerns, nurse caseload, resource management and protocol compliance all at a glance at the ward’s central station.

eolas provides an overview of the 2021 HealthTech Ireland Awards winners that are bringing innovation to health technology in Ireland.

Connecting rural communities will transform Ireland

National Broadband Ireland

Chairman David McCourt discusses

In November 2019, we proudly signed contracts with the Government to deliver the highly anticipated National Broadband Plan. Recognised as one of the biggest and most ambitious telecoms infrastructure projects of its kind globally, it has been heralded as “the biggest investment in rural Ireland ever”.

Fast-forward to today and the Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the criticality of reliable, high-speed connectivity, which has become essential for work, education and so many aspects of our lives. Such is the demand for bandwidth, that internet usage has grown by over 40 per cent compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Taking on the challenge of the National Broadband Plan, our team at NBI will be deploying fibre on approximately 1.5 million poles, many of them new, over 15,000km of underground ducts, will use up to 142,000km of new fibre cable, and will run along almost 100,000km of the road network.

Stretching across 96 per cent of the country’s land mass, we’re laying enough fibre to go around the world nearly four times. This is about radically changing the broadband landscape across the country to ensure that every man, woman, and child has access to high-speed broadband, no matter where

they live or work. It’s quite an incredible feat and it’s going to be transformational for Ireland.

In less than two years, our team has grown to have over 1,200 people working on the rollout of the National Broadband Plan, either directly with NBI or through our network of specialist contractors. We have the best team in the world working to deliver this complex project, with experience of financing, building, and operating some of the biggest infrastructure assets in the world.

The NBP is an example of incredibly ambitious Government policy and supports Ireland’s heritage in punching above its weight. Take for example, Ireland’s service economy: Ireland is a small country geographically, but it’s number seven globally in exporting services. The economy is moving globally to be tech enabled and the foundation for that is having connectivity to every person and making sure it’s viewed as an essential utility. Across almost all developed countries, what we see today is a digital divide whereby urban areas have an incredible advantage with access to connectivity and digital services, but many rural areas have been left underserved and that causes all sorts of problems.

We have to be in a position where people in a rural environment can start a business or grow a business from where they live. You can’t just assume that the only smart people in the world are those who live in an urban environment, and this is something that needs to be rethought.

The solution is well underway. Work on the NBP continues at pace with our teams working in every county across

Ireland. Over 277,000 premises have now been surveyed nationwide, which involves NBI crews physically walking the routes where fibre will be laid. Over 228,000 of these premises are already designed or progressing through detailed design work. Collectively, these are critical components which pave the way for fast and effective construction work.

As of today, construction work is underway for over 125,000 premises across the country and over 30,500 premises are now able to order services via retail service providers, with minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second. With nearly 50 RSPs ready to sell services on the NBI network, this is going to be a game-changer, bringing significant benefits directly to consumers and businesses across Ireland.

Visit www.nbi.ie for more information, including to find out if you’re in the intervention area and to receive Eircode specific updates on the rollout progress.

and innovation report

“the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification”.

Digital transformation to drive better governance

and innovation

At the same time, significant external risks such as the global pandemic, cybercrime and shifting macro-economic and political forces all need to be identified, controlled, and managed.

Across Ireland, organisations are finding new ways to meet these challenges and new tools to support them. Digital transformation is changing the way we govern. By implementing modern risk management, decision-making, and performance frameworks, organisations are remodelling how they operate, becoming more flexible, more resilient, and improving their performance. They are also finding new ways to

demonstrate compliance and their level of control to stakeholders and regulators.

As a quality improvement agency and the independent regulator of health and social care services in the Republic of Ireland, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is an organisation with a wide range of diverse and expanding functions. Supporting those functions is a busy, growing workforce, and this workforce, like many others, is undergoing transformative changes to the way they work. Meeting objectives in this complex environment requires detailed planning and delivery under increasing scrutiny.

HIQA implements Decision Time

Alongside significant reviews of their organisational structure, changes to oversight arrangements and a drive towards formal quality management systems, HIQA decided to implement a new set of digital tools to support its governance. They chose Decision Time to help track the delivery of their objectives, the management of risks, the implementation of audit recommendations and the facilitation of compliance with key statutory requirements.

HIQA found that carefully selecting the right tool was significant in managing their risks and objectives successfully.

Kathleen Lombard, Board Secretary at HIQA, said: “Because Decision Time is easy to use, it has helped to embed risk management at different levels in the organisation. In addition, it facilitates the tracking of internal audit recommendations and ensures that the relevant statutory requirements are recorded and reviewed regularly. The system also provides a more efficient way of running our board and committee meetings.”

Solution meets council needs on security, data hosting and ease of use

Monaghan County Council implemented Decision Time for their meetings and risk management and was impressed by the direct benefits and how the solution fits their vision. As a progressive council, Monaghan aims to adopt digital technologies. In June 2021, they launched a five-year digital strategy in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and leaders in education, the community and business. To monitor and deliver these ambitious strategic goals, complete actions, and drive digital transformation across the county, the steering

In recent years, leaders in the public sector have been faced with significant changes to how they must govern and run their organisations. Pressure is increasing to be more accountable, deliver on performance targets, and widen governance scope to include environmental and social impacts.

David Braziel, Technical Director, Decision Time.

committee needed to embrace an easyto-use digital platform.

Carmel O'Hare, Information Systems and Innovation Lead for the Council said: “Decision Time provides us with an easyto-use platform that facilitates the smooth running of our board and committee meetings, embeds risk management and encourages collaboration. The solution meets our key requirements on security, data hosting and ease of use.”

Both of these examples combine the right tools and a solid framework to improve the organisation’s governance significantly.

Building a flexible, resilient organisation with solid controls, a clear vision, and a well-defined set of objectives should be the primary task for any leader. While the core of good governance shouldn't be complicated, it is time-consuming and needs to be embedded across your whole organisation, so choosing the right tools is essential.

Over-engineering solutions to governance problems is a real danger

To succeed, organisations need new digital solutions and governance frameworks that are more appropriate to the modern world. These solutions must be easy to use, clear, reliable, secure, and available anywhere and at any time of the day. They do not need to be complex, in fact, over-engineering solutions to governance problems is a real danger leading to a false sense of security and over-burdening teams with additional work just to feed the system.

Decision Time's straightforward approach is based on three pillars:

1) Enabling you to see at a glance, the health of your organisation, your risks and progress towards your goals.

2) Making decision-making more efficient so that you know what needs to be done.

3) Building a culture of accountability in your teams so they can do what is necessary to meet their objectives.

Moving from flat reports, either printed or distributed as PDFs, is the first step.

Using a well-designed, visual, digital dashboard instead gives you a clear view of your risks, objectives, and results from the highest level down to specific departments and teams. A good dashboard will let you see an overview of the current status, spot any warning signs or problems and then drill down into the details when you need to.

Build an effective culture of accountability

You will also need a well-structured, embedded approach to risk management with easy capture, assessment and categorisation of risks supported by automatic reminders and prompts to review and test your controls. An embedded approach means that risk management is no longer the sole responsibility of an individual or team within the organisation but is on everyone's agenda. This is difficult when using a centralised spreadsheet or word document to track risks but becomes easier when you deploy a proper digital system that all leaders can access and update in a controlled way.

We all attend so many meetings now and often feel that they could be more focused, shorter, and more effective. A straightforward digital meeting tool gives you a way to manage meetings, create agendas, add documents, and track outcomes, decisions, and actions in context without piles of paper or complex email threads and drop-boxes.

Finally, you need a way to capture all of the actions that emerge from your governance activities, those for mitigating risk, repairing controls, addressing performance issues or implementing decisions from meetings. These actions need to be owned and given clear deadlines, which the system can then use to issue email prompts and reminders until the action is complete. By making these actions visible and by

enabling the prompts and status updates, you can build an effective culture of accountability across your organisation.

Choosing the right tool is essential

The days of managing risks and objectives on a set of spreadsheets or word documents are over. Modern digital governance tools provide an integrated, easy-to-use interface with all the controls and alerts you need to deliver outstanding performance. Choosing the right tool is essential but selecting the right partner to work with is also vital.

and innovation report

Decision Time has a unique software platform, but, just as importantly, it has the experience and skills honed from deploying solutions in many public sector organisations across Ireland and the UK. Talk to Decision Time today about how it can help you to drive better governance in your organisation:

T: +44 28 9448 7753

E: info@decisiontime.co.uk

W: www.decisiontime.co.uk

“Decision Time provides us with an easy-touse platform that facilitates the smooth running of our board and committee meetings, embeds risk management and facilitates collaboration.”

Carmel O’Hare, Information Systems and Innovation Lead, Monaghan County Council

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