The mothers of invention: Hit and miss technology in the fire sector

摘要

The project to inoculate the population from the worse ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic is now gaining real momentum and appears to be successful. Innovation, technology and organisation have come together to develop not only the medical solution but the means of delivering it in record time. Whether in the long-term we shall view this as a success or not, the turnaround from the perception of failure to success has been remarkable. Unfortunately, the success of projects, particularly those involving technology, have not always been as successful and this has been equally true of many different types of innovation within the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS). According to some sources, up to 25 per cent of technology projects fail outright, and another 25 per cent failed to show any return on investment. Meanwhile, the other 50 per cent often require a further large investment in time and/or money for reworking/ reimagining/reengineering by the time they are completed. The path to delivering technological change is fraught with hazards and pitfalls and it is only rarely that an idea progresses from idea to fruition without a difficult gestation.