Gerard Grech, chief executive of Tech Nation, the organisation that works to accelerate the success of ambitious technology businesses across the UK, will be speaking at the inaugural Digital Scotland conference in Glasgow this week (Thursday 21 June).
The UK’s digital tech sector continues to accelerate faster than the rest of the economy, according to Tech Nation’s 2018 report. Turnover of digital tech companies grew by 4.5% between 2016-17 compared with UK GDP which grew by 1.7% over the same period.
At the same time, the number of jobs in digital tech rose at five times the rate of the rest of the economy, demonstrating how the digital tech sector is one of the best performing sectors in the UK economy.
More than 350 delegates will gather at Strathclyde University’s Technology and Innovation Centre to hear from Scottish Government and tech sector leaders on the digital transformation of public services and how the nation can capitalise on its flourishing digital tech sector.
The conference will mark the publication of a Scottish Government-commissioned report into how blockchain, the technology underpinning Bitcoin, could be used to transform public services.
Digital Scotland 2018 will be opened by Chris Yiu, Senior Policy Fellow for Technology at The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, with a keynote on ‘Harnessing technology for the benefit of society’.
Also speaking is Colin Cook, Director of Digital at the Scottish Government, and Cat Leaver, head of the new £6m ‘Scotland is Now’ global campaign.
Digital Scotland 2018 is hosted by futurescot.com, which reports on the nation’s digital technologies sector and how it is changing lives here and around the world.
Speakers include:
- Martyn Wallace, Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office of Scottish Local Government
- Polly Purvis, Chief Executive, ScotlandIS
- Melinda Matthews Clarkson, Chief Executive, CodeClan
- Keith McDevitt, Cyber Resilience Integrator, Scottish Government
- Mandy Haeburn-Little, Chief Executive, Scottish Business Resilience Centre
- Cat Macaulay, Head of User Research and Services Design, Scottish Government
- Stephen Ingledew, Chief Executive, FinTech Scotland
- Mark Bevan, Chief Executive, SCDI
- Gerry McCusker, Chair, BIMA Scotland
- Brendan Dick, MD BT Regions / Director, BT Scotland
- Steve Turner, Digital Cities Lead, Arup
- Mark Bouldin, Social Innovation, EMEA, Hitachi;
- Alexander Holt, Head of CivTech, Scottish Government
- Professor Charlie Jeffrey, Vice Principal, Edinburgh University
- Professor George Crooks, CEO, Digital Health Institute
- Donald McLaughlin, Chair, Scotland’s Digital Technologies Skills Group
- Anne Moises, Chief Information Officer, Scottish Government
- Richard Gunson, Director, Gnos-tec
- Margaret Moore, Head of Regional Government, Sopra Steria
- Maggie Morrison, Vice President, Public Sector, CGI
- Andy Grayland, Chief Information Security Officer, Digital Office of Scottish Local Government
- Cat Macaulay, Head of User Research and Services Design, Scottish Government
- Leah Lockhart, Engagement Consultant
- Alan Johnston, Head of Digital Connectivity, Economy and Participation, Scottish Government
- Darren Kilburn, Principal Consultant, FarrPoint
- Michelle Brogan, Home and Mobile Health Monitoring lead, NHS24
- Hazel Archer, Video Conference and Attend Anywhere Lead, NHS24
- Liza McLean, Head of eHealth Strategy and Policy, Scottish Government
- Roger Halliday, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, Scottish Government
- Jenny O’Hagan, Head of Service Development, Development & Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council
- John Wilson, CEO, Ajenta
- Andrew Smithsimmons, Digital Health Cognitive-behavioural Psychotherapy Therapist, IESO
- Carol Sinclair, Associate Director in Public Health & Intelligence, NHS National Services Scotland
- Mike MacDonald, Head of Digital & Innovation, Capita
- Ian Dove, Director, Health Call Solutions
- Christopher Wroath, Digital Director, NHS Education
- Kirsten Urquhart, Digital & Smart-Tech Director, Young Scot
- Joshua Ryan-Saha, Skills Manager, The Data Lab
- Peter Ferry, Founder and Commercial Director, Wallet.Services
- Dr Hannah Rudman, Strategic Transformation Director, Wallet.Services