Winner of the Welfare Challenge
In 2010 Nis Bjørn Jensen and I entered the innovation competition Velfærdsudfordringen 2010 (The Welfare Challenge), and came out as winners for the best project, which we received a DKK 10.000 cash prize.
Case
“How can the socially vulnerable move from passive supported to active involvement in the Danish welfare state. Preferably a creative initiative involving and rethink the cooperation between public, private and voluntary organizations.”
From caseworkers to investors
The goal with our model is to create user-driven welfare, where we look at the individual and accommodate the needs thereof. Today we help the homeless, drug addics, prostitutes, etc. by giving them a monthly welfare check, and send them through a system that divides these people into broad categories instead of looking at their immediate needs. We have an equation that shows that the state is willing to pay the individual what he / she may need to get away from old patterns and on the right track again, the state can earn on the investment instead of paying welfare checks over many years. The way forward is to instead look at the individual, and we have found an idea for how to pay for it through venture investment in the individual. By catering to the needs there is a chance of the person returning to labor market and pay taxes, which over time will pay back the initial investment manyfold, thus letting the few cases pay for the many.
Additionally, we propose a streamlining of the processes when receiving people in need by utilizing the many private and voluntary offers around the country.
The full report can be downloaded here (It is in danish).
