over 7 years ago
Digital Iceland - Challenge
Challenge from Digital Iceland
One of Digital Iceland's role is to redesign public services with the needs of the user in mind and to deliver efficient, effective public services that meet the needs of our citizens and provide value for money for taxpayers. Here are some of our challenges that we want your help with:
- Drivers license: application process, publication or other
- Student loans: application, payments, repayments service or other
- New services provided by the public sector or a change in current services.
Further information about the challenges on next page
More about the challenges
Drivers license: application process, publication or other
The Challenge: Currently the application process requires the applicant to come to the governmental office, in person, at least two times and bring a printed photo in good quality. Then they will get a temporary license on paper and wait for the license to be ready and then go pick it up. The process is drawn out, with trips back and fourth and requires both paper and plastic. Furthermore, the driver has to carry the license on them at all times throughout their lives and if it gets lost the process has to been carried out from start to finish again.
Student loans: Application, payments, repayments service or other
The Challenge: For many students, student loans is the basis for them being able to study but the application process, process of disbursement and repayment, and communication with the Student Loan Fund (for short: LÍN) can be complex and frustrating. Some of the problems are:
- Knowing if a certain studyprogram is qualified for funding through LÍN, disbursement happens only after you have gotten your grades and are dependent on how many credits you finish
- Some students need to get loans from banks beforehand and those need to be payed back, you can't know how much you will pay back in the end due to price indexation or how many years it will take you to pay back the loan.
- Further communication drags out because LÍN takes 7-10 days to answer any request, even if it's a follow up.
New services provided by the public sector or a change in current services.
The Challenge: Iceland is sparsely populated and has one of the highest internet accessibility and technology literacy in the world so implementing new solutions in public sector services should be relatively easy. Still we are falling behind, in this area, compared to neighboring nations. The UK, Estonia, Denmark, Finland and Australia are some of the countries that have come furthest in digitalizing public services and our goal is to catch up or exceed them in near future. What can we do to reach that goal?
Judging criteria
Feasibility - That the solution is possible, with the technology available today and involves some kind of improvement
User Experience - That the solution improves user experience
Student loans: - That the solution is not the most obvious solution to the problem. Involves thinking outside the box and explores new ways of working. We encourage you to find ways to implement things like Blockchain or Gamification (or whatever) into public services
Questions?
If you have any questions about the hackathon, please post on the discussion forum.