230 delegates attended the inaugural ‘International Service Design Experience’, the first event of its kind in Ireland, featuring national and international design and innovation leaders, in Fota Island Resort on Tuesday, September 26th.

The day-long event discussed service design policies and perspectives in an international context, and presented best-practice exemplars of service design in both the public and private sectors.

The conference was hosted by Service rePublic, a joint initiative by Cork County Council (CCC) and Cork Institute of Technology, and was run in conjunction with the Service Design Network (SDN) which represents the global service design community internationally.

Cork County Council and CIT have developed a centre which is the first of its kind in this country, and comprises a dedicated, multi-disciplinary team of staff specially trained in Service Design and citizen engagement.

Amongst those in attendance were Nicola Radley, Senior Executive Officer CCC; James Fogarty, Divisional Manager CCC; Cllr Deirdre O’Brien, County Mayor Declan Hurley and Cllr Kay Dawson, which followed the launch of Service rePublic by Cork County Council, which aims to transform how Cork County Council operates by engaging with citizens, users, elected representatives, communities, businesses and other stakeholders.

Commenting, Cllr Deirdre O’Brien said she welcomes the roll out of the online service for elected members having been associated with politics for many years. 

"It is about being able to deliver the best service to the people we represent," she added.