On 21st November 2024, the government Property Agency hosted the fourth edition of the Smarter Working Live Awards, celebrating examples of innovation, creativity, and dedication to smarter working methods across the public sector. The awards are underpinned by technology, digital literacy, and optimising ways of working to generate greater productivity, simplify processes, and minimise costs.

The competition received a significant number of nominations across 15 categories, with some of the most notable ones mentioned below.

The Royal Air Force (Astra Team) won the award for digital innovation as a service for their Project BLUEPRINT, which coordinated multiple streams of Royal Air Force Police activities into one mobile-enabled platform. This has consequently boosted staff confidence and ensures quality service for those affected by violent crime and security situations.

University Hospitals Dorset won the award for harnessing the value of data by using process mining technology and human-centred design to improve the outpatient department by cutting waiting times and delivering productivity gains equivalent to £7.9 million each year.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust won the award for automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning for transporting people services using digital innovation and automation. Their project integrated People Assist, an AI-powered virtual assistant, into HR procedures by automating queries and therefore reducing response time to routine process queries. It delivered an instant turnaround of queries and advice, boosting productivity.

The Smarter Working Live Awards and Conference will return in 2025. Click here for more detail or the full list of winners.