Tech for Good innovations tackle poverty and unemployment

A raft of interesting digital products and tools are under development to help charities combat unemployment and poverty, according to the latest list of winners from the CareerTech Challenge Prize.

This £5.75m initiative is run by innovation charity Nesta and the Department for Education to find Tech for Good solutions to support employment advice and offer people a route out of poverty.

An artificial-intelligence-powered job coach called Bob is among the innovative solutions to be recognised by the award scheme and receive support and funding. The initiative also recognised innovations to tackle in-work poverty, challenge digital exclusion in the workplace among older workers, and use mobile games to help people find work.

These are set to offer vital new tools for charities as they look to help some of the most disadvantaged people in the UK. We look at a couple of examples in detail.

The AI job coach

The top CareerTech Challenge Prize has been handed to AI-powered job coach called Bob, a data driven online service to support unemployed people and help them find work.

Bob was developed by non-profit organisations Bayes Impact, which uses technology to tackle social issues, and social enterprise ACH, which helps refugees find work.

Bob works by analysing information about people’s job search preferences and the barriers they face. It then provides tailored support offering practical and motivational advice.

Its developers are optimistic it will be a success in the UK after already being rolled out in France, where it has helped 250,000 people. Evaluation of users in France show that 80% of people rate Bob’s advice as equal or better than careers guidance from a human advisor. In addition, four out of ten said Bob was a key factor in securing work.

“We’re hugely excited by Bob’s potential to get highly relevant employment support to adults across England,” said Tris Dyson, managing director of Nesta’s Nesta Challenges arm. “This pioneering platform is bringing tailored, engaging career support tools to the people that need it most, ensuring that nobody misses out.”

The project has been handed £120,000 as the winner of the top prize.

Stay Nimble to tackle in-work poverty

In-work poverty has been an increasing worry among charities, where low salaries and zero-hour contracts are forcing families in live below the poverty line.

Among the finalists in the CareerTech Challenge is Stay Nimble, a social enterprise that has developed an app that looks to help equip those in work to “escape in-work poverty” and “be prepared” for tech innovations in the work-place, according to Nesta.

This data-driven tool helps people to better understand their skills and aspirations through a series of online assessments. This helps beneficiaries to build up their “skills library” through learning new skills. It is also linked in with live vacancies and involves the chance to book video calls and messaging through an in-app chat with a skills coach.