CIVTECH has announced its latest cohort of innovators set to use technology to solve real-life Challenges facing public and third sector organisations in Scotland.
The latest cohort follows CivTech 7’s Demo Day earlier this month, where the Scottish Government confirmed £10million funding to the CivTech programme over the next year.
CivTech 8 has marked the first time CivTech has run two Accelerators within one year, due to the rapid scaling of the programme. £6million was made available to the companies on CivTech 7 and 8, which created more opportunities for third sector organisations to get involved.
The Accelerator Stage is an intense 15 week period of fast-track product development that sits at the heart of the CivTech Innovation Flow programme. Teams and Challenge Sponsors come together to produce a Minimum Viable Product that both works and is capable of further development.
As well as working on their product, companies will be supported with workshops to support their product development. The programme is highly flexible to suit both entrepreneurs just starting out, as well as established businesses.
Seven teams across six challenges have been chosen to build technology-based solutions to CivTech 8 Challenges. Those solutions will include using tech to address issues in supporting vulnerable people with energy problems, digitising systems in the Scottish Government, and using tech to support Scotland’s wildlife and nature.
Four Challenges within CivTech 8 are part of its first official partnership with NatureScot called ‘Innovate for Nature.’ These Challenges will seek solutions from tech entrepreneurs to address problems faced by public sector bodies in Scotland in protecting nature, with a particular focus on how technology can be used to develop evidence-bases and make it easier to monitor and manage protected sites.
Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise for Scotland, said: “CivTech 8 has shown just how quickly the Scottish Government’s accelerator programme has grown, and the ambition to create widespread and long term positive change in Scotland and around the world.
“The programme also demonstrates how timely this accelerator is, with solutions needed in helping the most vulnerable people in society through the energy crisis, digitising and modernising Scottish Government systems, and creating systems to support our marine and land ecosystems. This programme’s impact extends far beyond the tech scene in Scotland.
It is also exciting to see CivTech’s first ‘Innovate for’ series with Innovate for Nature, in partnership with NatureScot, working with the CivTech team, embracing tech for good solutions and joining the ever growing community of innovators across Scotland.
