Digital Directorate completes roster of issues requiring new digital solutions
The Scottish Government Digital Directorate has completed the publication of challenges in the third round of the national CivTech programme for digital innovation in public services.
It has added five more to the five it highlighted last week for this year’s round, with the promise of support worth up to £250,000 for each to develop the solutions for common social issues.
The directorate is leading on one of the challenges itself, aiming to support employee engagement through monitoring staff satisfaction and wellbeing, while Scottish Government Digital Planning is looking at how it can develop a new planning system that uses technology and data to improve the quality and reach of public engagement.
NHS National Services Scotland is leading two projects: to review how it manages single use products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices that could potentially be re-used; and to make the NHS waiting time system more efficient.
The other is led by national youth charity Young Scot and is aimed at ensuring young people’s rights around their use of technology, online and off.
First five
The list of five revealed last week included challenges aimed at: preventing illicit trading (Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group); connecting people and places through public transport to address social isolation (Glasgow City Council); improving services by better understanding investment requirements for public buildings (Stirling Council); using data to improve social housing standards (Scottish Housing Regulator); improving people's engagement with the outdoor environment (Scottish Natural Heritage).
CivTech was launched in 2016 as a new procurement route that focuses on asking open questions rather than providing technical specifications in traditional tenders.
The funding comes from the Government’s Small Research Business Initiative, with £3,000 to be awarded for three proposals in each category for initial exploration, followed by contracts of up to £20,000 to develop the most promising idea for each. The ultimately successful projects will attract 100% funded development contracts.
Image by glasgow's finest, CC BY 2.0 through flickr
