The CivTech 8 Challenges

Challenge Sponsor: The Extra Help Unit (EHU), Citizen’s Advice Scotland

Not all energy consumers are equal. Some are more vulnerable than others and need extra and immediate help. In an audience where everyone is vulnerable, prioritisation is more difficult and that can have a huge impact for the consumer, potentially increasing the risk of harm or even be life threatening. These outcomes impact friends, families and our staff working with the consumer.

Consumers don’t always clearly and succinctly outline their concerns or feelings, which can make detection and identification of priority cases difficult under a load of information, some of it more relevant than others and the sheer volume can hide those in need of greatest help.

So, how can technology help to quickly identify and prioritise support for people in the most vulnerable situations, starting with those having energy problems?

Challenge Sponsors: Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID), Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate, Scottish Government

The existing resource planning, allocation, management and reporting system is profoundly manual, and this means it’s static and labour intensive. But we work in an environment in which workloads, resources and deadlines change frequently, and people often have to work across different teams and locations. We need a system that is able to respond to the continually changing conditions, is flexible and dynamic. The ability to match the right resources with the right skills to meet changing tasks and deadlines is vitally important.

So how can technology help drive effective resource management for a multiskilled workforce in a constantly changing environment?

Challenge Sponsors: NatureScot and Scottish Wildlife Trust

A Nature Network connects areas of land and freshwater that are important for nature, including protected areas and restoration projects, by enhancing and developing corridors and stepping-stones between them to allow habitats and species that rely on them to thrive. An effective Nature Network is an essential tool to reverse biodiversity declines. In Scotland Nature Networks will address local priorities for nature, ensure connectivity and restoration across landscapes, and support urban-rural connectivity. Local authorities local development plans will facilitate the creation of Nature Networks and continue to strengthen the connections between them.

So, how can technology help to create a nature network by 2030 across all of the different areas of Scotland?

Challenge Sponsor: Marine Scotland

In common with other coastal nations across the globe, a huge part of Scotland’s Natural Capital, and our opportunities to develop nature based solutions to help meet net-zero goals and support wider biodiversity, is located within the marine environment. However decision makers both in Scotland and further afield, lack the information required to identify the optimum locations for projects to invest in. We will invest in the development of new technologies that will support decision makers in the identification of optimum locations for marine Natural Capital projects as well help estimate and monitor their impacts.

So, how can technology help us better assess and identify projects and opportunities that will improve and increase investment in Scotland’s marine natural capital?

Challenge Sponsor: NatureScot

If we are to support land and sea managers to make decisions that protect and restore Scotland’s Nature we need a better understanding of our natural environments which give us a holistic understanding of ecosystem health. This includes; ability to ingest various different types of data, in as close to real time as possible and the ability to present and analyse that data at different scales. We are looking for innovative proposals for technology solutions to support our national nature agency, NatureScot, to develop a world leading approach to monitoring the health of Protected Areas to support land and sea managers in decisions that help Scotland respond to the global biodiversity and climate emergencies.

So, how can technology help NatureScot flexibly manage its understanding of the state of protected areas by making best use of available evidence?

Challenge Sponsors: NatureScot, Scottish Government: Environment and Forestry Directorate and Scottish Wildlife Trust

Biodiversity credits are an economic instrument that can be used to finance actions that result in measurable nature positive outcomes for biodiversity and the environment. They directly address the need for investment in natural capital, beyond nature’s role in managing the carbon cycle.

Biodiversity credits differ to biodiversity offsets - they can be part of a company’s nature-positive journey, an investment in nature’s recovery, rather than an offset for damage.

The development of biodiversity credit markets has the potential to help address the £20 Billion finance gap for nature in Scotland by leveraging responsible private investment into nature recovery, in line with the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Strategy and Natural Environment Bill and the Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. 

So, how can biodiversity credits be designed in a way that provides simplicity for projects and buyers, and enables investment in Scotland’s nature?​