CivTech 6 Launched - including an AI Strategy challenge
CivTech have launched their sixth programme in continued, unprecedented circumstances. And more than ever, CivTech has a pivotal role to play in building Scotland's future.
If you’re an innovator, entrepreneur, team, start-up or established company, CivTech offers an unrivalled opportunity to develop a product the public sector really needs — and rapidly grow your business. With problems framed as Open Challenges, application is easy and procurement streamlined; it’s a swift, secure and proven pathway for innovative teams to win public sector customers.
This year’s Challenges are intimately connected to that future. Some are quite specific and immediate, others are nothing short of an invitation to reinvent how we do things. They’re all part of the Scottish Government's determination to build our nation, and to drive it forward.
One of the 12 Challenges this year is directly tied to the work of Scotland’s AI Strategy.
Challenge 2: How do we give the citizens of Scotland trust and agency over how AI and algorithms are used in the public sector?
Scotland’s AI Strategy defines AI as “technologies used to allow computers to perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, and language translation”.
For the purpose of this challenge, we will use a broader definition of AI as the use of algorithms to assist and automate decision-making. Therefore we will focus on the function, use and impact of these systems as a whole rather than on narrower technical definitions.
The ultimate outcomes we want to achieve are:
Children and the public in Scotland have understanding and agency over how AI is used to help make decisions about them
As a result, government earns their trust, enabling the use of AI to benefit our society, economy and public services
Constructive dialogue between the citizens of Scotland and policy-makers, developers and users of AI systems in the public sector contributes to improved design and implementation of AI systems and processes
Those long-term outcomes will be supported in the initial stages of the challenge through:
Providing children and their parents and carers with a clear, accessible and meaningful understanding of how AI is used to help make decisions about them for specific use cases, which will be supplied and explored as part of the challenge
Designing a platform and processes to engage and empower children and their parents and carers to have a meaningful, constructive, focused dialogue with the public sector
Q&A Session
A live Q&A session will be held with the Challenge Sponsor team on 21 June 2021 at 15:00, giving you an opportunity to clarify any aspect of the Challenge. The session will be delivered via WebEx and will be recorded to comply with procurement rules.