Third round of Scottish Government CivTech challenges launched

The winners of the first CivTech challenges in 2016 - Image credit: Scottish Government

The third round of the Scottish Government’s CivTech digital accelerator programme has been launched today.

Five new challenges have been launched so far, with another four challenges to be revealed later this week.

The programme, which sets a series of challenges to solve public sector problems, ran as a pilot in 2016, with a second round in 2017.

Each challenge has a different public sector sponsor, which sets an open question that it would like a solution to, rather than following the normal procurement process for a specific product.

This year’s challenges include finding a solution to trade in stolen or fake goods, sponsored by the Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group; how to collect data ethically and use it to improve public transport, sponsored by Glasgow City Council; and how technology can improve understanding of the investment requirements of public buildings, sponsored by Stirling Council.

In addition, the Scottish Housing Regulator is looking for suggestions for how data can be used to empower tenants of social rented housing, while SNH wants input into how technology can enhance engagement with the natural environment.

Speaking as the winners of last year’s challenges were announced, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay told Holyrood the project brings “a transformative focus on different ways of working” to the public sector.

All the latest challenges will open on Public Contracts Scotland from Monday 11 June, with a deadline of Monday 2 July for entries.

Shortlisted proposals will then go into an exploration stage where they’re developed further and the best will be supported through to the accelerator, which involves four months of work to create the solution.

Engagement events are planned for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Dundee and London during June for companies wishing to find out more.