The City Council of Barcelona has put into operation by the end of 2018 a new website that allows anyone to know the social aids to which they have the right, anonymously and independently of which be the Administration that manages them. The aid simulator helps to improve information and transparency towards the citizens, to de-stigmatize the demand for this type of provision and to facilitate access, considering that there are people who do not have access to public services because They are not informed of the rights they have, due to the diversity of existing aid, more than two hundred, and the complexity of their processing.

The website works anonymously. Once the data is entered, the system calculates the aid that can be requested in each case and an estimate of the amount, and also explains how each aid is processed. In the first phase, benefits have been introduced, such as the special emergency social assistance fund of 0 to 16 years; school dining aids; active insertion rents for long-term unemployed, for victims of gender-based violence or for people with disabilities; guaranteed citizen income; or the rental payment subsidies.

In a second phase, it is planned to incorporate other benefits such as the pink card, the social bonds of energy supplies, non-contributory pensions, the unemployment subsidy, the benefits of the dependency law or the aid plan for the Return for emigrants, among others.

The decision was made after the good results obtained in a pilot test carried out since October 2017 and focused on elderly and complex patients in two neighborhoods of Barcelona.

The purpose of the interconnection between the information systems of the two administrations is to facilitate decision-making and improve attention to people. The system is based on the prior consent of the affected person and incorporates all security measures to ensure the correct use of the data. This is a first step to achieve an integrated care model that can respond to the social and health needs of people. The Shared Clinical History of Catalonia already offers today the possibility of interoperating and sharing information with any system of any municipality of Catalonia with the ultimate goal of improving care processes in the health and social spheres throughout the territory.

Next Thursday, November 22, Ship2B organizes its V Impact Forum: Purpose and Disruption, the major event in entrepreneurship and social impact investment in Spain.

Directed to executives (CEOs, Presidents or C-level) of large companies, entrepreneurs and investors, the Forum will focus on showing emerging technologies that are solving major social challenges, the growing relationship between large companies and startups to generate innovation and impact, and the latest technological trends in circular economy, health and social inclusion, among other topics. For that, we will have national and international speakers such as Cristóbal Colón (La Fageda), Uli Grabenwarter (European Investment Fund), Lluís Seguí (Miura Private Equity), Kresse Wesling (Elvis & Kresse), Rodney Schwartz (ClearlySo) , Benjamin Tincq (GoodTechLab) or Plablo González (Pangea), among others. And in addition, it will have the presence of a score of social impact start-ups accompanied by the Ship2B Foundation throughout the first 5 years of activity.

The first plenary meeting of the Social Council of the iSocial Foundation took place on September 27 at the Palau de les Heures in Barcelona.

In the meeting, the twenty members participants worked on a base document on what the foundation wants to be, say and make from now on. There were many contributions and very enriching in relation to the draft document presented by the Board of Trustees. The diversity of backgrounds and knowledge areas of the members of the Council allowed to project a variety of perspectives on the innovation challenges facing the Catalan social sector today. Among the conclusions of the meeting, we can emphasize the importance of placing Human Rights in the center, in front of the classic debate on social needs; make a hinge between the worlds of the research and the action; Promote stable and long-term research lines in partnership with universities; encourage co-creation between different professional sectors; Train managers and planners of the social sector to reduce resistance to change; innovate from the learning of mistakes and bad practices; etc. The result of the meeting will be reflected in a definitive document base, which will guide the activity of the iSocial Foundation from now on.

Last June 28, at Microsoft’s head offices in Barcelona, the Bismart company and the ABD social organisation, one of the founders of Fundació iSocial, held a seminar to expound the benefits provided by artificial intelligence and Big Data in improving social services to professionals.

With the help of different examples of public administrations and social organisations from Catalonia, the seminar provided evidence about how existing Big Data good practices in the commercial setting can deliver substantial benefits to the social services in areas such as personalisation, protection, public budget planning, economic efficiency, service quality, etc. Bismart and ABD have been collaborating on this objective since 2016.

The “European Association of Services Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)”, which represents more than 15,000 service providers to people with disabilities all over Europe, will be organising the “Technology and digitalisation in the social care sector The impact on education, employment and independent living” European conference in the Caixafòrum in Barcelona on October 4 and 5, 2018.

The Congress organisers enjoy the support of the Catalan organisations SUPPORT-Fundació tutelar Girona, Plataforma Educativa, SOM Fundació and Fundació Ramon Noguera, among others.

Organised by the Fundació TIC Salut i Social of the Government of Catalonia, the conference is a reference point in knowledge transfer, and contributes to aligning the world of research, business and healthcare and social assistance.

The organisation intends to reach the figure of 400 professional delegates, thus consolidating the conference as one of the most important international events in the city and in Osona. It features two keynote speeches, three round tables, several brief papers and interventions by professionals and celebrities. The conference focuses on digital therapies and the objective will be to promote the visibility of key agents in the ITC industry applied to the areas of Healthcare and Social Welfare.