The Scottish Government has focused on 11 public service issues including tracking council assets and improving its own pre-employment checks in the fourth round of its Civtech Challenge programme.
It has announced the individual challenges and gone through the engagement process with potential suppliers, aiming to begin the exploration phase in mid-September. The programme is aimed at matching digital tech innovators with the public sector organisations leading the challenges.
CivTech was launched in 2016 as a new procurement route that focuses on asking open questions rather than providing technical specifications in traditional tenders.
Funding comes from the Government’s Small Business Research Initiative.
The list of challenges includes a project focused on the Scottish Government’s internal operations: one to use technology to make its pre-employment checks and onboarding process more efficient; the other, led by the Digital Scotland programme team, to use technology to enable the Scottish Government to share digital resources and expertise.
West Dumbartonshire Council is also leading two projects: on using technology to track off-network council assets at minimal cost; and supporting line managers and employers in sharing and accessing support.
The others are as follows:
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Skills Development Scotland – How can technology help inform and inspire primary school pupils to think differently about future careers?
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Alzheimer Scotland – Helping people with long term illnesses access technologies to enhance their care.
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Student Awards Agency Scotland – Enabling easier access to funding opportunities and reducing drop-out rates among disadvantaged groups.
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City of Edinburgh Council – Using technology to manage the property condition of communal areas in privately owned tenements.
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Glasgow City Council – Harnessing data to help citizens reduce their carbon footprint and make the city more resilient to climate change.
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Transport Scotland – How can we use technology to enforce a potential Blue Badge exemption from the Low Emissions Zone?
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Forestry Land Scotland – Making better use of Scotland’s supply of high quality tree seed.
The teams selected for the exploration stage will receive £3,000 each, and those going into the accelerator, to run from November to February, will receive £20,000. An event for demonstrating solution to the public sector is scheduled for next March.
Intellectual property remains with the companies but the sponsor organisation gets an in perpetuity royalty-free licence.
Image by glasgow's finest, CC BY 2.0 through flickr
