I-Partnership for ICT innovations in government institutions

On the 9th of February 2021, the yearly conference Nederland Digitaal takes place, where businesses, governments, knowledge institutions and social organizations pay attention to digitalization. Fontys School of ICT (FSICT) and the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) have a very unique form of collaboration, which the government institution dubs i-Partnership.

SVB started a partnership with FSICT in 2020. As Partner in Innovation, SVB works intently with students and researchers in the Fontys ICT InnovationLab to exchange knowledge and explore innovative ICT solutions. By assigning practical research assignments to the educational institute, explorative research provides both organizations with benefits. Young ICT-professionals can taste what it is like to work in a government institute. They provide SVB with new insights into technology. It also allows SVB to profile their organization on the shrinking job market for ICT-talent.

Knowledge institution

FHICT has the ambition to profile itself as a knowledge institution through a co-educational collaboration with their Partners in Innovation, united in the cooperative SPARC, and various research branches, such as AI, Robots, Applied Games and Digital Communities. For a partner like the SVB, this means a connection with an extensive knowledge network, providing inspiration and insights. This new form of education also enables the SVB to solve its own ICT challenges together with FHICT. An example is the question that Novum, SVB's innovation lab, posed to students of the Digital Experience Design minor. They designed a digital authorization system that enables senior citizens to authorise caregivers to manage their digital administration when they are no longer able to do so themselves. This project has now been completed satisfactorily and the next research project is in the pipeline.

Growing partner network

The SVB is very pleased with the results from the ongoing partnership. The concept of the Fontys ICT InnovationLab is developing rapidly and new partners from a wide range of disciplines have joined the partner network. This ensures that institutions and companies can also learn from each other. Together we are building a future of open knowledge sharing and co-educational research.

Want to know more about the research projects that FHICT sets up with its partners? Check out the ICT In Practice website.