Scottish Tech Army - Year in review 2021
2021 was a transformational year for the Scottish Tech Army, one in which we completed the transition from our roots as a COVID response initiative to an organisation focussed for the long term on an expanded tech for good mission. Our core objective now is to mobilise Scotland’s tech talent for good, bringing to bear the talents, enthusiasm and commitment of those in the tech and tech-related sectors on the biggest challenges facing us as a nation.
In 2021, we saw continued evidence of the desire of individuals in the tech sector to play a part in using digital technologies for social good – more than 500 new volunteers signed up, taking the total since we launched to almost 2,000 people. This community has now worked on projects with hundreds of organisations across a wide spectrum of areas of need and we have seen and heard great feedback about the impact that their work has had.
A big part of our mission is to foster and support the development of the Tech for Good ecosystem, working with partner organisations to aggregate and amplify the impact of the many organisations and individuals that are committed to making a difference through technology. An important milestone for us took place on the anniversary of the launch of the Scottish Tech Army, when we launched the inaugural Tech for Good Summit for Scotland. A wide range of contributors discussed topics around the three themes of:
The Art of the Possible - showcasing real world examples that demonstrate the impact that technology can have to help organisations deliver more effectively, efficiently and affordably and on a scale that has never been seen before
The Tech for Good Ecosystem - discussing the roles and contributions of all of the organisations that can play a part in the overall mission and how the ecosystem nourishes every part of it - charity, volunteer, employer and customer
Agents of Change - highlight and celebrate their contributions, show the value they create for the organisations they sign up to help and the impact for the people served by those organisations.
Recordings of the sessions are still available on the event web site.
At the Summit we were privileged to announce the appointment of our initial group of Tech for Good Ambassadors – Mark Logan, Marcella Boyle, Fiona Stewart-Knight and Felicity Goodman – you can read more about their backgrounds on our web site. These highly experienced and hugely respected individuals have been providing their input and support to us over the course of this year as we develop the Scottish Tech Army and we have benefited greatly from their experience and their connections.
The life blood of the Scottish Tech Army is our volunteers and the projects they deliver. In the last year we have seen many examples of highly impactful projects, including:
·Got1Give1 – a web site to support a vaccine donation project to improve access to COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries
A project to provide a tracking and analysis dashboard for a new NHS service in Edinburgh, Same Day Emergency Care.
Bioregioning Tayside – a platform which brings people in Tayside together to build community resilience in the face of environmental issues
·Mental Illness Research in Children and Young Lives (MIRICYL) - a web app providing a range of online resources and pointing young people in the right direction to get help
·BabySteps 20+ - a service designed to ensure people with additional support needs have prospects for the world of work
Details of these and other projects delivered by our community of volunteers can be found on our blog.
We have also been able to progress our work in developing partnerships with the education sector. In addition to our well-established partnerships with CodeClan and Glasgow Caledonian University, we are now working with a range of other institutions including New College Lanarkshire and the Open University, helping students and graduates gain experience to complement their learning and skills development.
As we approached the end of the year we received confirmation of funding for two major projects in which we will be involved in 2022 and beyond, one working to support young people with care experience and the other deploying SOLE Scotland, our online community platform, to 5 towns in East Lothian. These projects represent an evolution that will continue in 2022 as we add projects directly targeting beneficiaries, complementing and extending our existing approach of supporting organisations delivering services directly.
Looking forward into 2022, we have ambitious plans to continue the development of the Scottish Tech Army and the Tech for Good ecosystem. One important element of this will be greater engagement with companies in the tech and tech-related sectors – this will build on our work to date in this area and will be highlighted in the launch of a major new initiative at the end of January 2022. If you are not already subscribed to Network Effects, our Tech for Good newsletter, please do register here to be kept up to date with all of these developments.
In closing, we would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last year, partners, funders and in particular our wonderful community of volunteers.