Dublin’s health innovation district to pilot VR meditation and digital currency

Dublin, Ireland has announced a series of pilots that will run in the Dublin 8 area, one of the city’s five innovation districts.

They include projects which use virtual reality (VR), rewards apps, and digital literacy programmes to help improve physical and mental health.

The Smart D8 initiative brings together public authorities, academia, healthcare, citizens and industry to explore how new approaches and technology can be used to improve health and wellbeing.

In late 2020, the first Smart D8 Community Survey was launched to capture the needs and priorities of the local community and a call for pilots followed in March 2021.

Projects selected include Civic Dollars, a “social c...