GDS Local: Early Years Innovation Day, Wednesday 9 September, Sheffield

Join the GDS Local Early Years Innovation day for an opportunity to design and test a future early year's system in a collaborative forum!
About this Event

Come join the GDS Local early Years Innovation Challenge!

Hosted by the Government Digital Service, the National Data Library, the Local Government Association, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Sheffield Hallam University.

Context

The Early Years Interventions Innovation Challenge will bring together local and central government practitioners, health visitors and early years professionals, service designers, policy makers and data specialists to explore how better use of information could help identify children who need support earlier and enable more coordinated action around them.

Building on themes explored by NDL’s Early Years Kickstarter discovery, participants will design and test what a future early year's system could look like if trusted information could flow more effectively between professionals. Teams will develop concepts and prototypes that explore how the right information could be available to the right people at the right time, while maintaining trust, privacy and proportionality.

The session will generate valuable user experiences, requirements, opportunities and questions for the NDL, DHSC and DfE to consider and incorporate into ongoing work on what can be done nationally to support improved data sharing between professionals in early years interventions.

How does it work?

As part of the registration process, you will complete a short skills survey to help us better understand your expertise and interests. If you have any suggestions for challenge statements exploring what a future early years system could look like if trusted information flowed more effectively between professionals, please feel free to include these.

If selected to attend, at the event we will put you in a collaborative team of individuals with different experience and skills. Whether you are a domain expert, product manager, service designer, developer, data practitioner, local government or central government professional, your knowledge and perspective will be valuable.

What to expect?

Building on our previous successful Local Government Innovation sessions, participants can expect:

• Building prototypes that could be used in local councils to demonstrate the value of sharing this data for early years interventions

• Collaboration with cross-disciplinary teams to explore real-world challenges

• Hearing from experts in health and education data

• Connection with others to improve outcomes for vulnerable communities

Who should attend?

This GDS Local: Early Years Innovation Challenge is open to different skill levels and backgrounds including:

• Professionals with experience in early years, health visiting and education service delivery

• Data scientists and analysts

• UX/UI designers

• Developers and engineers

• Policy makers

• Digital innovators

• Anyone passionate about digital innovation in public services

We will prioritise applications from local government practitioners, but welcome applications from anyone who can bring expertise, creativity and enthusiasm to designing tools for local government early years services.

Register now

Spaces are limited, so register your interest today and be part of a community working to address one of society’s most urgent challenges. The deadline to register your interest is Friday 21 August 2026.

Please note: Registration does not guarantee your place, once you register your interest in this event you will be asked to complete a skills survey. We will shortly get in touch with you to confirm whether you have been successful and are invited to attend, in the meantime, please hold 9 September 2026 in your diary.

Privacy Notice

We take your privacy seriously. Your responses on registration will remain confidential and will only be used for the purposes of organising the event.

The information you provide, including your department, will help us understand the diverse perspectives from different sectors and ensure effective team compositions.

Your comments may be shared with senior leaders and relevant teams involved in the hackathon to illustrate how participant insights have informed our planning and facilitation.

This privacy notice explains how we handle the data collected from you and how it will be used.

If you have any questions about the event, please contact us at: [email protected]