In today’s rapidly advancing technological landscape, understanding the interaction between human skills and emerging technologies is essential. That’s why the TechConnect initiative is focused on developing tools that assess how well these two elements (human capabilities and technology) work together in practice.

One of the key components of our work is the Human-Tech Complementarity Index, which provides a comprehensive way to measure the alignment between new technologies and human skills.

The Human-Tech Complementarity Index

The Human-Tech Complementarity Index is designed to evaluate the complementarity between technology and human skills by measuring the affordance gap: the difference between how a technology is intended to be used (intended affordance) and how it is actually used in practice (actual affordance). This gap can indicate areas where improvements are needed, enabling organisations to enhance technology adoption, training programmes, and overall human-tech collaboration.

The Index is a measurement tool that aggregates data to produce a simplified and interpretable score.  Each factor is weighted based on its relevance to the overall assessment. The index helps identify affordance gaps, which are the discrepancies between the potential use of technology and its actual effectiveness in real-world applications. These gaps highlight where technology may fall short or require adjustments to better meet user needs.

Technology profile and levels

The technology profile categorises technologies by their function and autonomy level in performing tasks or making decisions. This classification captures how technologies are introduced, used, and by whom within an organisation. In addition, the index measures the technology’s impact across different operational levels, from individual tasks to organisational systems. By assessing these levels, we gain a clear picture of how well a technology operates and where it has the most significant effect on human skills and workflows.

Why is important?

The Human-Tech Complementarity Index offers organisations a structured approach to evaluate how well new technologies support and align with users’ needs, capabilities, and workflows. By systematically measuring these aspects, the index will enable hospitals and other organisations to target areas for improvement and make informed decisions about future technology adoption.

 The development of the Human-Tech Complementarity Index is a crucial step in enabling hospitals and healthcare systems to assess and improve the integration of digital technologies into their workflows. This tool will ultimately allow healthcare organisations to make smarter, data-driven decisions, ensuring that technology adoption leads to meaningful improvements in both care delivery and patient outcomes.