Image: COUNTRY OÖ
Housing allowance, nursing allowance, subsidies – the list of possible financial support in Austria is long. People often do not know what services they are entitled to. “Nougat” is the name of the chatbot that a young team of developers is using to make the process easier for those affected.
“People who live on the poverty line often don’t have the time to find out enough about funding,” says founder Johanna Diener. In cooperation with the social platform, there are plans to create a web portal that queries the situation of people seeking help (e.g. area of support, age, income, marital status). Based on this data, those affected receive information about possible financial support in Upper Austria.
First use in autumn
For this purpose, a database is to be created in the background in which all resources are entered.
A prototype of the chatbot will be used for the first time on the social platform’s website in autumn. According to Diener, it is important that the entries are only “non-binding information, not an application”.
“Nougat” was selected as one of four projects at UpdateSocial, an ideas workshop at the JKU in cooperation with Volkshilfe Upper Austria, and is supported with a grant of 5,000 euros by the social department of the state of Upper Austria.
According to State Councilor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (VP), digital technologies in the social area would relieve employees and open up new avenues in the area of advice.
Source: Nachrichten
