Welcome to CivTech Round 9!

CivTech Round 9 is launching with a set of new Challenges! They represent by far the most exciting and well-funded set CivTech has launched, with some £7.8 million of contract opportunities for teams and businesses able to solve some of the most difficult problems we face.

Innovation — creating ever better products and services — is at the heart of this, and this leads to economic opportunity. CivTech has clear evidence that it’s delivering on both these things, with huge benefits to public sector organisations and a really high success rate for the companies involved.

Put those two things together and you have something compelling. An opportunity for Scotland to build the best public services in the world. For people to solve problems and build businesses. And for all parts of society to work together to build the kind of world we want.

The Challenges on Round 9 focus on wide range of areas: the natural world, supply chain development, food security, cyber security and core government services are all represented. All offer huge opportunity, and some of them are nothing less than the chance to reinvent how we do things.

While all of the problems we’re seeking to solve are well mapped out, none of them have prescribed solutions – these are Open Challenges and we’re looking for truly inventive and ambitious approaches coupled with the kind of knowledge, expertise and knowhow needed to bring the idea to fruition.

Individuals, teams, pre-starts, start-ups, early stage and established SMEs, and large companies are all welcome to apply — you most definitely don’t need to be a company to enter. The really friendly application process ensures a level playing field, so it’s the best propositions that get through. And because each Challenge normally takes just one solution through to the Accelerator Stage, you won’t be sitting in the room on Day One looking at a dozen or more competitors building the same product. This feature, where there are multiple Challenges from all areas of government, is one of our great strengths: it’s in the diversity of teams and solutions, and through the support teams give to each other, that we develop really compelling propositions.

You don’t have to be someone with a technical background, or an experienced businessperson, or an academic to come up with a brilliant solution to our Challenges. We want you to really push the envelope of what’s possible and give us your most innovative ideas. We’ll look at everything.

All you need is that great idea, and a determination to see it develop — we’ll help you do the rest.

Let’s move fast and build things!