Following four years of success in engaging Enterprise, Academia and a range of relevant stakeholders, the Smart D8 initiative has delivered 16 impactful and scalable pilots. In 2025 this engagement will continue with a fifth open call for pilots.
Continuing to focus on the measured health and wellbeing needs of the 45,000 strong diverse Dublin 8 population, this call will focus on three themes, namely:
- Connected Patient in the Community,
- Positive and Healthy Ageing, and
- Community
Smart D8 seeks to support the development of impactful and sustainable pilots with the potential to scale that involve enterprise, academic and other relevant public and private stakeholders. The pilot proposals should be ready to deploy with end-users in a general population and should be in a position to measure impacts within a six-month timeframe. Up to three pilots will be chosen to market-validate their innovation, and includes individual project resourcing of up to €10,000 including VAT as part of their market-validation with citizens in real-world environments to scale.
To apply, please submit your proposal here: https://bit.ly/SmartD8_PilotApplication2025 by Wednesday, 02nd April 2025 at 23:00 (GMT+1)
Smart D8 Pilot Call Themes
Some examples of the types of pilots which would be relevant to the Dublin 8 population are given here for illustrative purposes. Smart D8 takes a very broad perspective on population health and wellbeing. Balancing preventative approaches with the support for citizens in the community and including innovation in the delivery of health and wellbeing, the pilot call is broad in the application areas.
Connected Patient in the Community
Health and wellbeing services focused on patients living in the community and community-based services in the following focus areas:
- Chronic Disease Management.
- Women’s health.
- Social prescribing and related services.
- Health and wellbeing education and learning.
Positive and Healthy Ageing
- General Preventative Health solutions that can be implemented in a community setting to maintain good health and wellbeing (e.g. nutrition and exercise).
- Support for citizens living in the community and their broad-ranging impacts on habits, lifestyles and experiences such as women’s health.
- Ways to better integrate the ageing population into communities.
- Creative approaches to foster intergenerational connections within neighbourhoods.
- Providing support for the ageing population making a valuable contribution to communities.
- Health and wellbeing services focused on an ageing population.
- Innovative approaches to addressing frailty and caring for older people living in the community.
Community
- Innovative community development projects that foster collaboration and engagement and connect to Smart D8.
- Initiatives to reduce social isolation and enhance mental health support networks and cohesion at the community level.
- Sustainable practices for creating inclusive and accessible community spaces or living/working environments that promote physical and mental wellbeing.
- Programs that empower local residents to take an active role in shaping health-conscious communities.
- Projects aimed at improving cultural diversity and inclusion within the community for wellbeing.
Who Should Apply
The pilot call is open to all Enterprise, Academic, and Public and Private sector organisations, who:
- Offer innovative and scalable solutions (products, services, content or devices).
- Provides new practices/solutions/perspectives that address an unmet need in the community.
- Have a solution that is ready for end-user deployment in a general population, and a pilot timeline within six months.
- Can be enabled by a co-creation and collaboration with the Smart D8 partners and beyond.
Why Apply?
- Opportunity to market-validate your innovation by piloting it in a real-world community setting; demonstrating its impact and scalability in a general population.
- Access to a unique collaborative ecosystem with established clinical, academic, public and private sector engagement.
- Funding support available for selected pilots.
- Programme management support.
- Marketing and promotion support.
- Access to free workspace in Dublin 8 during the pilot period.
Application Process and Timelines
- Applicants must submit a completed application form through the Smart D8 website here. Applicants can apply for more than one call. If your institution cannot access Google Forms via a Google account, you can access the Pilot Application Template, with email submission instructions, here.
- Call opens: Thursday, 27th February 2025
- Call closes: Wednesday, 02nd April 2025 at 23:00
- Evaluation of proposals:
Your submission will be reviewed by an expert panel drawn from the Smart D8 partners. A shortlist of applicants will be selected and will be asked to make a presentation to the evaluation panel. An update on the call outcome will be provided to all applicants at the end of the review process, anticipated by Friday 16th May 2025. - Projects to start: May 2025
- Projects to present results/interim results: October 2025
Eligibility, Evaluation & Selection Criteria
Pilot applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Impacts at Scale
Smart D8 wants to back scalable projects which can produce and measure clear impacts on the health and wellbeing of a local population. Applications will be studied on the basis of the ambitions for scale during and after the pilot timeline and how this will be achieved, as well as integration with existing services. Innovations that can demonstrate engagement with higher numbers of citizens will be prioritised for population-scale impacts and outcomes. - Innovativeness
A level of innovation in terms of product/service will be required that addresses an unmet or underserved need. Innovation in the incremental or disruptive approach taken to advance the pilot with end-users as it relates to health habits and social norms will also be evaluated; as a key determinant of successful health outcomes. - Team & Resources
The Smart D8 evaluation panel will consider what resources and people are being supplied to the pilot and what the ask is in terms of people and resources from Smart D8, including competence of team members for their project delivery. Explicit communication of resource contribution (including budget) is also required, such as what resources are provided versus those requested of Smart D8. - User-Centric
The evaluation team will look for proposals that are end-user focused. The measures of response to needs of community or service users for health and wellbeing impacts of the population of D8 will be scored. - Alignment with the objectives of the Smart D8 project.
Smart D8 takes a very broad perspective on population health and wellbeing. It has built direct connections with citizens in a wide and diverse population. Smart D8 is inspired by the concept of blue zones – areas where people live the longest. Smart D8 offers a template for replicating and scaling elements of population health innovation and impact on a wide range of social and economic determinants. Pilots will be evaluated against these objectives as they relate to the Smart D8 programme and involvement of Smart D8 partners.
About Smart D8
‘Smart D8’ is an urban demonstrator providing opportunities for indigenous and international innovators to investigate how smart technology and innovative approaches can improve health and wellbeing in an urban population.
Since October 2020, Smart D8 has brought together innovators and an urban community with a diverse range of entrepreneurs, academics, local government, national healthcare providers and public bodies in a partnership model to work to solve real population health and wellbeing challenges at scale.
Smart D8 is led by The Digital Hub, Dublin City Council, St James’s Hospital and Smart Dublin. They are joined by Tyndall National Institute, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, National College of Art & Design, Guinness Enterprise Centre, Health Innovation Hub Ireland and the HSE in this unique collaborative initiative.
Smart D8 is focused on finding innovative solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of nearly 45,000 people living in Ireland’s capital city. Through funded pilot calls and partnerships, Smart D8 is facilitating the design, testing and development of future products and services showcasing their potential to positively impact people’s lives nationally and internationally.
Smart D8 was shortlisted for The HealthTech Innovation of the Year in the Public Sector Digital Transformation Awards 2023, globally recognised as Innovation Finalist at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2023, awarded for Innovation in Public Administration by the European Public Sector Awards 2023-24, and most recently Digital Community finalist at the .ie Digital Town Awards 2024.
