Case study

Building strategic plans with partners to save lives at sea

RNLI

Impact

organisations engaged and collaborations enhanced

Over 70 | organisations engaged and collaborations enhanced

Built in-house roadmapping expertise

Built in-house roadmapping expertise

Impact

organisations engaged and collaborations enhanced

Over 70 | organisations engaged and collaborations enhanced

Built in-house roadmapping expertise

Built in-house roadmapping expertise

Will Roberts, Future Lifesaving Innovation Lead at Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), gives an overview of how IfM Engage worked with the charity to develop in-house roadmapping capability and enhance collaboration across the search and rescue field.

The challenge

Making the most of technological developments forms a core component of the RNLI achieving its goal to halve the number of accidental coastal deaths by 2024. It is also vital in contributing to improving the safety of lifeboat crews and lifeguards. The RNLI were looking for an approach to bring together internal and external expertise to create a shared vision of how current and emerging technologies can contribute effectively to search and rescue operations.

The solution

Since 2016 the RNLI has been working with IfM Engage on a project of blending training and consultancy, facilitating workshops as well as building roadmapping and visualisation capability in-house.

“Roadmapping provides a great way to bring together key stakeholders in any project and draw out their expertise and insights in the spirit of openness. We rely on close collaborations across our network, so having an approach we can use on-demand to build strategic plans with our partners is very useful. The training IfM Engage provided during the initial workshops built our in-house expertise and capability, enabling us to facilitate additional workshops independently.”

One of the reasons that Will thinks roadmapping has been adopted quickly by the RNLI and is increasingly integral to developing strategy lies in bringing together networks.

“Over 70 organisations have taken part in our roadmapping workshops, all bringing different areas of expertise and insights into how we can save more lives at sea. Our use of current and emerging technologies will be more effective if we have a comprehensive view what’s going on across the sector, helping us to collaborate with the right organisations on the right projects. Roadmapping is playing a significant part in how we are doing this.”

The results

Four workshops have been organised on different themes and are delivering outcomes in line with roadmap timelines, some of which are outlined below:

The third dimension of search and rescue (unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs))

A key step identified in the roadmap was to establish technology trials and demonstrators of UAVs in the first three years. In April 2019, the RNLI, Essex Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) started a twelve-month trial using drones to search for casualties in hazardous locations.

“The unmanned air systems roadmap is held up as the plan across industry, government and academia by which we will develop drone capability in search and rescue operations. Since the roadmap was published we have coordinated several demonstrator trials in line with the roadmap timeline. The trials are helping to progress the use of drones and we anticipate they will bring benefits including increasing the speed at which our crews can locate and reach casualties and ensuring the safety of our rescue teams.”

Future of search and rescue communication

Through this workshop the RNLI were able to inform a strategic investment decision regarding man-overboard technologies. The workshop highlighted commercial organisations were investing significantly in this area so it was deemed unwise for the RNLI to continue investing in a bespoke system. This decision saved the RNLI valuable financial and human resource which they have been able to invest in other areas.

The future of donations

The roadmapping process brought together experts from across charity, finance and technology fields to look at the factors that would impact donations over the next ten years, preparing the organisation for a cash free society. Since the workshop, the RNLI has been trialling how technologies can support donations in the future including contactless payments and the use of voice communications like Amazon Alex.

Emerging digital ecosystem

Through bringing together experts in emerging technologies, the RNLI identified a number of emerging technology themes that could contribute to their vision of a world where no-one drowns. Following this work, they secured support from internal stakeholders for a small portfolio of projects that would enable the RNLI to learn about the potential impact of their technologies. One particular project was made possible by securing the support of a Digital Catapult funded programme, ‘Things Connected’, where the RNLI Innovation Team is demonstrating the potential benefits of the Internet of Things to its lifesaving operations.

Figure 4 from the report ‘The third dimension for search and rescue‘ created by the RNLI and IfM Engage.

The impact

  • Built in-house expertise rather than depending on external consultancy input.
  • Engaged with over 70 organisations and enhanced collaboration across the search and rescue field.
  • Led to a twelve-month trial to use drones to search for casualties in hazardous locations.

“Roadmapping provides a great way to bring together key stakeholders in any project and draw out their expertise and insights in the spirit of openness.”

Will Roberts, Future Lifesaving Innovation Lead, RNLI

“Roadmapping provides a great way to bring together key stakeholders in any project and draw out their expertise and insights in the spirit of openness.”

Will Roberts, Future Lifesaving Innovation Lead, RNLI

About RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates over 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland.