To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to harness the capabilities of the fintech sector to improve public sector data efficiency and productivity.
We recognise the significant potential of collaborating across sectors and with industries, including fintech, to harness technological advancements to improve the quality and delivery of public services.
Through the CivTech programme we have supported a number of open innovation challenges, working with a cross-sectoral pool of expertise to identify solutions that ensure the data that supports our public services can be accessed and used as easily and efficiently as possible.
As part of CivTech 10, launched on 30 July, we are committed to exploring possible solutions that use technology to share data seamlessly across public sector body boundaries. By streamlining data management processes to improve accessibility across public bodies and departments, we can unlock the value of data to enhance efficiency and productivity in the public sector.
We are contributing, in an advisory role, alongside FinTech Scotland, to Scottish Enterprise’s Blockchain and Digital Trust Task Force, to help drive adoption of blockchain and digital technologies across the finance, energy, manufacturing and health industries. We are also aware of Smart Data Foundry’s work on a cost-of-living dashboard with East Renfrewshire Council . We have had initial discussions with Smart Data Foundry and will explore how we can share learning from their innovative data-driven approaches and expertise with emerging technologies with public sector data communities.