Trial blazers: widening participation in tech pilots
For our latest blog, IoT Project Manager, Sam Grounds is taking a look at the importance of trials and pilots when it comes to ensuring the effectiveness and safety of tech-driven solutions, particularly in the context of social housing. He addresses the greatest obstacle in the execution of IoT trials: effective recruitment, in particular among older adults. We need a thoughtful, personalised approach to recruiting all age groups for trials, if we are to unlock the full potential of IoT technology to improve people’s lives and address broader issues, like energy efficiency and housing standards.
IoT covers a broad spectrum of technological solutions to a wide range of problems, from tackling Bovine Respiratory Disease to scheduling jet repairs at airports across the world. But IoT also serves a less glamourous purpose, enabling access to innovation for individuals to solve problems that are smaller in size on an individual level, but put together, form some of the biggest challenges to the planet and people.
Take, for example, damp and mould across housing stock, or electricity usage of individual appliances in homes. Individually, these are small-scale interventions, but when implemented across a population, these interventions tackle big issues like fuel poverty, energy efficiency, and balancing the demand on energy systems.
As the world becomes increasingly dependent on tech-driven solutions, tech trials and studies are essential to ensure the efficiency and safety of these innovations. Much of DG Cities’ recent work in these spaces has revolved around running trials of this small scale IoT technology with tenants in social housing.
A colleague told me recently that “a project is at its most perfect during the planning phase.”
The planning phase is considered to be the purest phase of a project’s lifecycle, as during this phase the project exists purely in the realm of concepts, ideas and strategies, where outcomes and deliverables are dreamed up and the benefits to participants are never-ending. The planning phase exists before the complexities and challenges of execution start to shape the project, which got me thinking about the barriers I’ve experienced in conducting such trials. One stuck out considerably more than the rest – recruitment.
While the potential benefits delivered to residents are broad, appropriate and effective recruitment proves to be a major barrier to achieving these benefits across a whole group of participants. Returning to the previous quote, a lack of effective recruitment can prevent you from delivering all the benefits that you dreamt up in the planning phase.
One significant challenge researchers and tech companies often face is recruiting older adults into these trials. In my experience, there are thee major barriers to effectively recruiting older adults:
Technological Intimidation
Perceived Irrelevance
Mistrust of Technology
Technological intimidation is a primary barrier to recruiting older adults into tech trials, where many older adults grew up in an era without smartphones and IoT, the idea of agreeing to install such technology in their homes can be intimidating. During many of my conversations with residents, I hear variations on the following; “how do I know if my phone is smart?”, “my daughter is the only one with access to my emails”, “what’s an Android?” - highlighting a clear digital divide between younger and older participants. According to analysis of data by AgeUK (2021), 79% of over-75s cited a lack of IT skills as the major barrier to getting online more.
So what is the solution here? In one of my previous blogs, I discussed the idea of categorising participants according to their level of confidence in using new tech, ranging from tech-savvy to indifferent. These categorisations enable you to design bespoke engagement plans for participants according to their tech personality. For those that are experiencing tech intimidation this might include comprehensive tech training and support, as well as offering user-friendly interfaces and clear instructions during trials. I’ve also found that support delivered over the phone is not always appropriate. Users experiencing intimidation and a lack of digital skills benefit more from in-person demonstrations where they can see first-hand how easy it can be to use apps effectively, and generates greater levels of both interest and confidence.
Perceived irrelevance is another barrier to effectively recruiting older adults into tech trials. There is a disconnect between what new tech can deliver, be it better conditions in homes, higher energy efficiency or money savings, and people’s understandings of how tech can deliver these things. To help try and solve this, it is important to map benefits in the planning phase, and create an engagement plan centred around this.
It’s crucial to strike a balance between highlighting the possible benefits and promising too much. There is nothing worse than promising the world and not delivering. Try to understand who your target demographic are and identify the differences among them, then align your engagement efforts with those interests. For example, if your product has lots of bells and whistles, get your tech-savvy participants excited about them, if your product has an easy to use interface, include that in your messaging to your less digitally confident residents.
To find out how the DG Cities team designs, delivers and evaluates tech trials, and supports synergies between industry and local government, get in touch.
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