Digital

Data and Intelligence Network comes of age

August 1, 2022 by Stewart Hamilton No Comments | Category Data, Digital Scotland

Blog by Data & Intelligence Network Communications & Engagement Manager, Lewis McCathie.

As I have settled in at the Data & Intelligence Network Management Office (NMO) it has been astonishing to discover how much the Data & Intelligence Network (DIN) has achieved in two years.

May 2020 was where it began as the need to collaborate across organisations was recognised to support decision making and management around the COVID-19 pandemic. Gartner was commissioned to lead a taskforce to create a Scottish cross-agency network which would foster collaboration across the public sector’s data community. Thus the Scottish Government COVID-19 Data & Intelligence Network was born.

An early DIN success was the establishment of a publicly accessible dashboard which stored information on COVID-19 infection rates and health outcomes.

In January 2021 NMO, the team responsible for delivering DIN services, grew in size which equipped us with the capacity to work on more projects. One standout project involved collaboration alongside the Agricultural and Rural Economy Directorate to monitor adherence with COVID-19 international travel rules for around 9000 seasonal agricultural workers.

‘Challenge Generation Studio’ events were organised for Network members in which teams could pitch to NMO for further support for their projects. One successful pitch focused on improving access to key data to help mitigate child poverty across Scotland. Additionally, a project named ‘Equality Protected Characteristics Dataset’ enables the Scottish public sector to carry out research on how their services comply with the duties placed on public bodies in the Equalities Act 2010.

2022 has seen NMO respond to new data projects, one of which has been providing systems to support the resettlement of displaced people from the Ukraine conflict.

As DIN moves in to its third year I am looking forward to what will come next as we continue the Network’s transition to a post-pandemic stage as set out in our first blog.

For more information and to enquire about joining the Data & Intelligence Network please email: data.intelligencenetwork@gov.scot

Tags: Challenge Generation Studio, Data & Intelligence Network, Equality Protected Characteristics Dataset

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