Service design as a tool for co-creating new pathways for innovation in social services in Sweden

Purpose and goal

The project aimed to promote the capacity for innovation and to remove barriers to innovation in the social services through a collaboration with the National Board of Health and Welfare to create new ways of innovation. The aim was to explore new possible ways of supporting the social services in these issues during the project period. Learning about service design was also an objective, to understand how a new approach and working methods can be used. Several other projects in the organization are now trying the method to try to get closer to the users, work faster and get better results.

Expected results and effects

At the start, the goal was to develop an individual service or product that could benefit the users. Gradually, the project was developed to deal more with a major cultural change in how the agency understand the needs of the target groups. The project has resulted in a concept of a new service for support concerning regulations, but also networks, focus on promoting innovation, more discussions about legal barriers to innovation and that managers and employees have acquired knowledge and skills in innovation and service design.

Planned approach and implementation

The work has been carried out in six different phases, from a system perspective to a specific solution, using systems thinking and service design in combination. The project has done analyses of documents, workshops, interviews and "Innovation Lab". The service design method is based on the needs of the users, in this case the staff in municipalities that use services and products from the National Board of Health and Welfare. The users in the municipality were involved step by step in all phases of the project. This approach is planned to be part of the agency´s way of working in the future.