The aim of the DigiOne project is to create a national digital service platform that brings together services for learning and education. In November 2020, DigiOne announced its cooperation with five Finnish cities — Vantaa, Espoo, Tampere, Turku and Oulu — and the municipal ICT development company Kuntien Tiera. Now the cities of Lahti and Jyväskylä are joining the project. The project is of special national significance, with the participating local authorities currently accounting for over 25% of the Finnish population. The goal is that all other local authorities wishing to join later will be able to do so.
DigiOne has also launched cooperation with the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. The aim of the cooperation is to raise awareness of DigiOne in cities and municipalities, to have influence and cooperate at the national level, and to build cooperation networks.
DigiOne focuses on the learner. The aim is to support the learning and wellbeing of the learner and to do so by providing high-quality education services in a cost-effective manner. The project is building a digital service platform and educational ecosystem based on platform economy. The platform model allows the members of the ecosystem to interact and cooperate through the services created on the platform and use the accumulating information. The services needed in teaching and education will be integrated into the digital service platform to create an easy-to-use group of services.
“The City of Lahti and our basic education services are pleased that DigiOne will introduce modern tools for learning and communication. A single login and user interface will give teachers and pupils access to the tools they need,” says Lassi Kilponen, Director of Education in basic education services in Lahti.
The project, to continue until the end of 2023, will develop services for basic education and general upper secondary school. The design of the digital service platform also takes into account early childhood education and care and vocational education and training so that the services related to them can be integrated into the platform at a later stage. The goal is that all education providers, commercial service providers and other operators in the education sector may join the DigiOne service platform in phases if they wish to do so.
Synergy or joint leverage is not easily created in a situation where the central government and more than 300 education providers in Finland each use their own information systems. The common service platform and ecosystem for education providers and commercial operators will help to create a cost-efficient group of services that will serve today’s and future needs. It has currently no parallel even globally.
“We are very pleased to join the DigiOne community. We will be part of the most important education services development project in this decade. DigiOne is now a key strategic priority in the City of Lahti,” sums up Kilponen from Lahti.
”The most significant challenges related to the use of technology can be solved through extensive cooperation between education providers. Large issues cannot be tackled alone. The DigiOne project puts the right issues on the agenda. One of the objectives is to reduce the fragmentation of services and information as well as duplication of work. By developing easy-to-use and accessible services for municipal residents we will also promote equality.
The City of Jyväskylä wishes to actively support this nationally significant development work and share its own expertise. Together we are more powerful,” says Jarkko Lampinen from the early childhood education and basic education services in Jyväskylä.
The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities to become the main partner of DigiOne
It is of great importance for the DigiOne project and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (AFLRA) to contribute to the development of future education and involve the entire Finnish teaching and education sector in this effort. The AFLRA has a key role in engaging all cities and municipalities in the common educational ecosystem.
The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities represents the voice of municipalities in the building of cooperation networks
The AFLRA and DigiOne have extensive opportunities for creating synergy, for example in the form of expert and ecosystem cooperation. The AFLRA brings together various parties and networks that will also be useful in developing DigiOne. The seven cities participating in the development work, Kuntien Tiera and the AFLRA wish to contribute together to future education and legislation at the national level.
“It is important for us that DigiOne will enable common solutions for the entire local government sector in the future. This is to avoid a situation in which local authorities have to develop regional solutions alone,” says Tainio.
“The partnership with the AFLRA will further strengthen cooperation in the field”, says Ilkka Kalo, Director of Basic Education in the City of Vantaa and Responsible Director for DigiOne.
The aim is to improve the conditions for learning for children and young people and to reduce inequalities
“We are building a unique educational ecosystem that is unparalleled in Finland or even in the world. Based on platform economy, the ecosystem is made up of the users and public and commercial operators. We are developing a nationally uniform way of working with the data models and standardised interfaces created within the DigiOne project, says Kirsi Lehto, DigiOne Program Director.
“Today we cannot even dream of the new innovative services that may be created on the platform in the future”, Lehto continues.
“The City of Jyväskylä hopes that the goals of the DigiOne project could genuinely be achieved by working together. We expect that the project will produce concrete solutions to the digital services, operating culture and knowledge-based management in the field of education. We also hope that it will reduce duplication of efforts in areas such as procurement, integration, data security and data protection”, says Jarkko Lampinen from the City of Jyväskylä.
The project is applying for additional funding to later cover early childhood education and care and vocational education and training as well. The services on the digital platform would then serve the entire field of education.
Ilkka Kalo, Chair of the DigiOne steering group that overlooks the project, is pleased to see the project growing: “We have aimed high right from the start, but the final composition of the cities and municipalities participating in the development work exceeded all our expectations. I wish to thank everyone already at this point.”
Inquiries:
DigiOne Program Director
Kirsi Lehto
tel. +358 50 314 2815
kirsi.lehto@vantaa.fi
DigiOne Chair of Steering Group/Responsible Director
Ilkka Kalo
Tel. +358 40 707 1115
ilkka.kalo@vantaa.fi
City of Lahti Basic Education Services, Director of Education
Lassi Kilponen
Tel. +358 44 716 1328
lassi.kilponen@lahti.fi
City of Jyväskylä, Children’s daycare and pre-school education, Basic Education Services
Service Supervisor
Jarkko Lampinen
Tel. +358 50 401 0402
jarkko.lampinen@jyvaskyla.fi
Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Deputy Managing Director
Hanna Tainio
Tel. +358 50 567 1624
hanna.tainio@kuntaliitto.fi