Digital

Digital Scotland News

July 30, 2013 by admin No Comments | Category Digital Scotland, News

Everyone across the Digital Directorate has been busy since the Digital Scotland 2013 Conference and Expo in May.

• Senior officials have spoken at other high profile events bringing together people from the ICT industry, public and private sectors and voluntary organisations that all wish to have their say in Scotland’s Digital Future.
• We have awarded the contract for the Rest of Scotland Step Change project to rollout next generation broadband access across the country and
• We have published our report on transforming Scotland’s digital economy and announced a significant funding package to help deliver the recommendations in that report.

This blog provides an update on these and other Digital Scotland news.

Recent Events

The Digital Scotland 2013 Conference and Expo was held on 22 May and Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, delivered the opening keynote address to over 350 delegates. Read the transcript of the speech and watch videos from the event.

More recently, the Holyrood Connect – Realising Scotland’s Digital Future conference attracted a wide range of delegates, interesting speakers and informative breakout sessions. The event took place on 18 and 19 June. Colin Cook’s presentation on “Digital Scotland: Infrastructure, Inclusion and Innovation” and other presentations from both days are available on the Scottish Government YouTube Channel.

Our Digital Dialogue has been continuing with a number of seminars covering issues such as infrastructure financing, mobile and wireless connectivity and an event focusing on Machine to Machine technology. View the videos and presentations from these events for more information.

Publications

We published a report on the review of public sector business support programmes on 7 May 2013. The report “Supporting the Transition to a World-leading Digital Economy” explores the public sector’s approach to promoting Scotland’s digital economy and provides initial outputs from the review of business support programmes.

The report was prepared with a team of partners from Scotland’s enterprise and skills agencies along with representatives from the digital industry. Seven key recommendations are suggested to improve outcomes and ensure that we deliver our collective ambition for Scotland.

See the full report at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/05/2347

On 14 June, we published the High Level Operating Framework (HLOF) which was prepared in response to a commitment made within the strategy Scotland’s Digital Future: Delivery of Public Services launched in September 2012. The purpose of the document is for public sector organisations to follow when delivering their ICT solutions. Its adoption will bring about benefits that will achieve National Outcome 16 “public services that are high-quality, continually improving, efficient and responsive to local needs”. Read the framework document.

A measurements and benefits framework has been developed for the “Scotland’s Digital Future – Delivery of Public Services” strategy. The framework was developed with involvement from a sector representative group and was presented to the Digital Public Services National Board for approval in May. The framework contains 16 measures which provide comprehensive coverage of the main benefit areas arising from activity set out in the national strategy. The framework is based on a balanced scorecard covering 4 priority areas. View the framework for more details.

Announcements

On 9 July, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the award of contract for the Rest of Scotland project which forms part of the Step Change Programme to rollout next generation broadband access infrastructure. Read the details in the News Release. Next generation broadband access will deliver real benefits to businesses and individuals with the potential to transform the way we go about our daily lives.

On 22 May, Deputy First Minister announced a new £7 million funding package to support the delivery of the recommendations in the digital economy report – “Supporting the Transition to a World-leading Digital Economy”. The funding will be used to complement the resources already in place in enterprise and skills agencies to help SMEs to make better use of digital technologies to become more competitive. Read the details in the News Release.

Keep Informed about Progress

I hope you found this first news roundup helpful and interesting. To keep up to date with the latest news on Scotland’s Digital Future please subscribe to the blog using the RSS feed on the page and visit the Scotland’s Digital Future and Scotland’s Digital Dialogue websites on a regular basis.

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