Project Report
The polar cousins, the Arctic and Antarctic regions, require skilfully-tailored and impactful, holistic integration support programs for immigrants due to their geopolitical and climate change role in the earth’s ecosystem. The countries in the arctic have recently invited more talent due to the aging population in the areas in the arctic region. This has led to an increase in the immigrant population in these regions. Technology has recently proven that it improves the speed of accessing information and makes decision-making much faster. This research evaluates the acceptance, potential efficiency, and effectiveness of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to accelerate integration and improve immigrants' mental health and well-being, especially the traditionally marginalised and vulnerable immigrants. An AI-driven integration aims to accelerate holistic integration by using a mobile App designed to offer handy information through the most used device in the 21st century – the smartphone and using the most advanced technology that engages algorithms - Artificial Intelligence. More than 90% of immigrants own a smartphone to access a lot of information about their everyday business and find possible solutions to their everyday challenges. The research bridges the gap by demonstrating the acceptance of a mobile application for accelerating holistic integration into Finland and the arctic region. The game-changing benefit of AI-driven integration is its capacity to complement other Arctic research findings. It disseminates useful arctic research findings to immigrants based on algorithmic notations for greater impact.
The research activities included four in-depth interviews (IDIs) that focused on the user perspective of the mobile App and the respondents' experiences with the prototype mobile App. Additionally, two focus group discussions (FGD) also evaluated the efficiency and efficacy of a mobile App that is driven by AI. The participants in the IDIs and FGDs were drawn from international students who tested the mobile App prototype. All the respondents strongly accepted the AI-led mobile App for integration. A hybrid interdisciplinary forum was held with 18 diverse participants representing the authority, religious groups, immigrant associations, refugees, and students. The activities were wrapped up with a Chatham house-style dissemination workshop that attracted more than 36 participants, some of who joined online for some segment of the session. The two workshops engaged multidisciplinary teams whose goal was to hold a dialogue on the efficiency and efficacy of the mobile App as an effective solution for accelerating integration.
The key scientific highlights of this research are:
- Immigrants are willing and able to use a mobile Application for accelerating integration into Finland (acceptance)
- The use of Artificial Intelligence has demonstrated the ability to accelerate the sense and perception of being better integrated into Finland in more than half the time taken currently (efficiency and efficacy)
- The mobile Application for integration gives the benefit of an individualised, lifelong, holistic integration model that has a direct correlation with good mental health and well-being
Date and Location:
IASC Working Group / Committees funding the Project:
Project Lead
Year funded by IASC
2022
Project Status
Upcoming