CivTech7 Demo Day showcased a range of solutions to challenges facing the public service, but also posed several questions for the future of this societal institutions’s place in transforming Scotland.

“Innovation just can’t be a luxury for us,” Philippa Vigano of NatureScot said at CivTech7’s fireside chat. 

The key word of the day it seemed, innovation was touched on by those running organising and supporting CivTech7, which showcased 13 different solutions to challenges posed by the government in the summer of 2022. 

Companies partnered with civil organisations to deliver solutions to complex social problems using technology, with a tight deadline of about four months to present to a wider audience. 

Projects ranged from the timely issue of energy efficiency and cost of living, to wider societal issues like accessibility in technology, to the rather specific subject of beaver burrows. 

The cost of living crisis, the environmental crisis, and the economic crisis did not so much lurk in the shadows, but were permeating ghosts tormenting the feat of near desperate innovation. 

NetZero ambitions mean that nearly every home in Scotland will soon be obliged to undergo expensive retrofitting amid an energy crisis, with pernicious social ills only increasing people’s vulnerabilities, leaving charities and free advice institutions like The Citizens Advice Beareau pushed well beyond capacity, and while technology continues to progress, those with disabilities are often left behind by the very technology which promises to include them. 

Victims of crimes like sexual assault and domestic abuse are left unsupported and re-traumatised by an intimidating justice system, town centres are left behind to disintegrate by a government’s apathy to prepare shop owners for the pernicious proliferation of online retail, and environmental priorities are often lost to the whims of ‘economic’ progress. 

“Scotland faces challenges like we’ve never faced before,” Mark Elliot, the programme director of CivTech said in his closing speech. The sobering speech spoke to the reality of the challenges faced, the importance of the solutions, and the vitality of innovation in the midst of crisis. 

“It’s absolutely clear that we cannot just do the same things we’ve always done, even if they’re digitised,” Elliot said. “That approach won’t satisfy the ambitions of the Scottish government, and that won’t deliver on the expectations of the Scottish people.”

Elliot urged that innovation and spirit are vital to revive the public sector. 

“As far as the spirit of enterprise, the entrepreneurial mindset goes, that is not the preserve of the private sector, even though there are many people in the private sector, for their own reasons, who would have you believe that.”

The entrepreneurial spirit he touched on in his speech was felt throughout the day. Technology was used in new ways, open source data was harnessed effectively, and AI saw beneficial impacts across different challenges.

Multi-beam sonar and robust data analysis was used to detect beaver burrows and identify any risk they posed to the land by RiverEye, a partnership between JBA Consulting and STORM Geomatics, to sustainably and efficiently manage beaver populations, and mitigate associated risks.

Opensource maps and land data were used by Sweco to map out effective cycle routes in rural areas to increase active transport, and Diagonal, to assess the use of land in urban settings to revitalise town centres. 

AI transformed the open source data used to understand the needs of businesses across Scotland by DeepMiner, allowing for better informed decision making to allocate business support during times of crisis. 

Readily available data made all the difference to the partnered solutions of ZUos and Novaville Shared Works, the first of which determined the best energy use options for homes, which Novaville can then use to generate affordable plans and community centred approaches to retrofitting houses for NetZero ambitions.. 

Virtual reality (VR), which is typically used to intensify the effect of video games, was used by Sentireal to introduce witnesses and victims to courtrooms prior to case hearings to remove the surprise and ease the associated stress. 

An app with similar functionality to Uber was developed to connect BSL users and the deaf community to interpreters in their area, developed by Deaf Action. 

Citizens Advice is “creaking under the strain of supporting more people” Polly Tolley, Director of Impact at Citizens Advice Scotland said, so Wyser developed an AI tool to remove the busy work of Citizens Advice advisors by using language models to generate appropriate resources, allowing advisors to help those seeking support more efficiently, increasing capacity without increasing headcount. 

Similarly, Connecting You Now’s AI app helps those with disabilities access services, who would otherwise be left behind by the technical revolution – only about 56% of those with sensory loss can participate in the digital world. 

Clearly innovation was taken to heart. 

“I think the private sector can teach us a lesson. Private sector companies that do not innovate go to the wall, all of them. They fail. And the brutal fact is if we do not embrace the spirit of enterprise, if we do not innovate, we will fail people,” Elliot said. 

CivTech made much of this innovation possible, and perhaps it is because of the existence of the public sector that such progress could be made. 

Without worries of monetisation and commercialisation, the people the public sector are worried about failing can actually be helped. 

Deaf Action has no plans to charge users or interpreters to use their app, SignPort, and Sentireal’s VR technology could no doubt make more money sticking to game design rather than helping victims in their court proceedings. 

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Mark Elliot summarised the projects of the day: “We have developed a compelling bedrock of evidence, that demonstrates absolutely clearly that the public sector can innovate, can create better products and services, can move at speed, and can drive the benefits out as widely as possible, not just at the challenge sponsors, but at the citizens, other organisations, and of course, the economy. We can, together, change the game.”

In a moment of candour, Elliot continued on, speaking openly about the current crisis affecting the UK, and what was truly at stake. 

“I bet some of you in the room, are thinking, ‘Well this is great, but we’re in a crisis, there’s a recession going on, there are cuts going on, I’ve got this that and the other thing and I just don’t have the time to innovate, I don’t have the time to drum up an entrepreneurial mindset,’” he supposed.

“Well, apart from the fact I think I’ve made the case for it, I’d say you don’t have the time not to do it.”

He continued: “Here’s another fact: crisis and recessions are the biggest drivers of innovations we have, that’s absolutely a fact. Nearly every one of the biggest and most successful tech companies in the world were formed at the time of crisis or recession.”

Elliot detailed the early stages of a company born in recession, quoting Steve Jobs: “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

“Let’s go a little crazy and let’s see if we can’t make the world a better place,” he finished. 

In the wake of the pandemic, a rapid descent into a recession, and with the continued squeezing of public funding, the solutions presented at CivTech, however, seem rather, sane? 

The range of technology and projects tackled, from using sonar to detect beaver burrows, from analysing data and using community focused platforms to address energy efficiency, to using AI language models and machine learning to help those most vulnerable, CivTech saw perhaps the most sane and well-thought out collection of technological solutions to societal problems long overdue for effective answers. 

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