Scottish Government seeks director to carry on CivTech digital programme

Scottish Government building, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh - Image credit: Scottish Government Flickr

The Scottish Government is looking for a director to expand its CivTech digital public services accelerator scheme.

The CivTech programme, which was piloted last year, offers developers and entrepreneurs the chance to compete in open challenges – rather than through closed tenders – with the aim of bringing in new companies to work with the public and increasing innovation.

Different public sector organisations posed a range of problems facing them and invite companies to propose digital solutions, with the most recent round of winners including work to resolve issues in healthcare data, flood forecasting and cyber security.

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The Scottish Government said that the scheme – which it described as the world’s first government-run accelerator for better digital public services – had “gained significant traction” since its launch in June.

It was shortlisted for two Holyrood Scottish Public Service Awards and is “already attracting attention from governments around the world”, the Scottish Government said.

The pilot ends this month and the Government said it now needed to recruit a permanent head of the programme, who will write a strategy “for the magnification or multiplication of the CivTech model”.

The new recruit, who will sit in the digital public services and business transformation division of the Scottish Government, will be expected to deliver a culture change programme within the public sector.

They should also influence government policy by working with the economic development and digital public service policy teams, as well as building relationships with ministers and senior civil servants.

In addition, the role will involve working with procurement, legal and facilities teams to make sure the programme remains compliant, as well as to support the companies that are delivering accelerator workshops.

Earlier this week the solutions developed during the pilot scheme were demonstrated publically for the first time.

The winners were selected from a pool of 80 applicants, and each received £15,000 and were based at CodeBase in Edinburgh for three months of design and development.

The idea is to encourage both collaboration and idea sharing as well as competition between the successful project teams.

The closing date for applications for the CivTech programme director role is 23 January.