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As an organization that encourages innovation and sharing of ideas, in its early days the IS was able to set up two funds - the Innovation Exchange Fund and the SMART Fund - to support special projects that it was believed could have a wide impact on services. These funds are no longer open for applications. However work is still underway on many of projects which were successful in their applications for funds.
All applicants were required to share their experience in carrying out the projects, and reports on progress, case studies and any outputs are available in this section. In addition, a half-day event run at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on April 25th 2008, showcased the learning and outputs. All presentations for these are available to view and download here. A final report is also available which summarises the outcomes of the projects.
We would like to thank all applicants who made submissions to both funds and to those who have shared the knowledge and products arising from the projects they undertook.
The Innovation Exchange Fund
The Innovation Exchange Fund provided match funding of up to £50,000 per project to develop and deliver innovative projects that would normally not be expected to fall within the remit of a council or community planning partnership.
Under this initiative, funding in the region of £245,000 has been provided to the following:
- Stirling Community Planning Partnership, to implement an Anti Social Behaviour System and Information Sharing ICT system. This project has now been renamed OASIS (OASIS - Online AntiSocial behaviour Information Sharing system). Progress reports and lessons learnt to date are available to download below. A case study is also available on the Forth Valley GIS website.
- West Dunbartonshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Community Health Partnership, to plan care services that support addictions treatment seamlessly through joint planning mechanisms.
- Sustainable Scotland Network and World Wildlife Federation, to utilise the Ecological Footprint to measure and manage the environmental impact on Scotland.
- Midlothian and East Lothian councils to develop an integrated person-centred service planning and implementation system comprising three key elements: Person Centred planning, Shaping the Future (a service-planning tool) and In Control (a self-directed support system)
Smart FundsSMART funds of up to £10,000 per project were provided to assist applicants in provision or development of a smart idea. This could be something that the applicant would like to see implemented, that could fall within the remit of usual, everyday business, but for which there was no local funding.
Under the SMART Ideas Fund, funding in the region of £80,000 was awarded to the following projects:
- Angus Community Planning Partnership, to conduct a feasibility study into developing the existing Community Planning IT system from a prototype to a fully developed, integrated application for use by all 10 partner organizations.
- Dumfries and Galloway Physical Assets Programme Board (PAPB), to develop a shared property service that supports the development and delivery of joint asset management planning.
- North Lanarkshire Council, to assist creation of an Approved Traders Scheme which demonstrates that adherents to the scheme achieve a certain standard of operation. Since the initial submission, a UK-wide Local Authority Assured Trader Scheme Network (LAATSN) has been set up, which has a set of guidelines aimed at encouraging consistency between schemes. Using these guidelines, NLC decided to focus efforts on targeting tradesmen and home improvement firms, as this sector is one that often gives consumers great difficulty in following up poor service in addition to potential preying on vulnerable people. Additional material provided below includes the action plan and proposed timescales for creation of this Approved Traders Scheme, though it is recognised that these are subject to change.
- Dundee City Council, to assist in refurbishing a house that demonstrates how a sustainable house can minimize ecological impact, by combining working examples of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources and demonstrating how environmental issues such as biodiversity, recycling and use of materials from sustainable sources can be achieved.
- A joint commissioning of guidance & training package, to support benchmarking activity, through support of the ABC Benchmarking Club.
- The City of Edinburgh Council, to assess the “Edinburgh Approach” to better performance management in partnerships. The Partnership Performance Report that was produced as a result of this funding outlines a number of recommendations in partnership working that are applicable across a range of partnership initiatives. You can download it below.
- Clackmananshire Council to further develop their successful Lotus Notes councillor's caseload management system
- West Lothian Council to develop a caseload management system to assist members in managing their caseload
- The Scottish Housing Best Value Network, to conduct further development of a peer review system. This was highly successful and produced some valuable insights into peer review. Amongst the outputs from the project, there are a number of diagrams that illustrate the process that similar projects could utilise to create a peer review process. These, along with a progress report that outlines some lessons learnt, are available for download below.
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About the IS 
Proposal
Online Anti-Social Information Sharing - Forth Valley GIS
Local Footprints Postcard