Digital Strategy for Scotland (2021)

The IET has provided a response to the Scottish Government in respect of its consultation paper A Consultation on the Digital Strategy for Scotland

Building on its 2017 Strategy the Government is seeking to update its priorities and actions to align more closely with the current challenges and opportunities presented by the digital sphere. 

In its response, the IET:

• Shares the Government’s ambition of collaboration being at the heart of Scotland’s digital future.
• Supports the vision that the government has set out across different themes.
• Encourages the Government to think more broadly about what sectors are impacted by the digital economy and to look for more synergy between the public and private sectors, especially in relation to developing STEM education and digital skills programmes.

Among the IET’s specific suggestions are:

Prioritising opportunities for collaboration in Technology’s role in Education and Business and Innovation, specifically:

• Working with businesses and educators to change how digital skills and computer science is taught in schools (from Primary 1), higher education and the workforce. This includes identifying new routes for teachers to upskill themselves and highlighting teaching as a career option to those with computer science/technology degrees.
• Collaboration between the tech sector and existing tech networks to provide business support and mentorship to start-ups and SMEs lacking in digital and technical skills. Utilising the expertise of organisations such as the IET in setting up schemes to facilitate this.
• The Scottish Government has ratified all 34 recommendations of the recent report by Mark Logan – ‘Scottish technology ecosystem review’ (“the Logan Report”) but the report is only mentioned in one section of Strategy. We would like a greater integration between the Logan Report and this Strategy.