Digital strategy for Scotland: sustainable digital public services - delivery plan 2025-2028

5. Advanced Technology and Innovation

Digital innovation makes our public services better, faster and fairer. In a climate where public sector budgets are under pressure and complex societal problems have resulted in a rising demand for services, digital transformation and innovation are essential.

It is important that we coordinate our efforts to better understand how rapid developments in AI can fairly deliver efficiencies and support public sector transformation; dramatically speeding up repetitive tasks and freeing staff time for the novel problem solving that people do best. Supporting best practice in the development and use of AI and sharing information and data will be central to driving innovation.

CivTech, the Scottish Government’s innovation programme, specialises in co-producing solutions to public sector problems. It remains instrumental in bringing the public sector, private sector, and third sector together to create digital solutions as quickly and effectively as possible. Regular launches of new CivTech challenges will accelerate ideas, taking these from inspiration to activation.

It is only through building a culture of innovation, that we can transform public service delivery and the lives of the people of Scotland.

Summary of deliverables 2025-2028

To be delivered jointly

5.1 Collective leadership

To be delivered by the Scottish Government

5.2 Ethical adoption of AI

5.3 Piloting AI

5.4 CivTech innovation programme

To be delivered by Local Government

5.5 ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) innovation

5.6 AI innovation and collaboration

5. Advanced Technology and Innovation: deliverables

Joint deliverables

5.1 Collective leadership

By 2028, we will ensure the public sector is better aligned and able to navigate the opportunities of advanced technology. We will strategically collaborate to maximise the benefits and adoption of AI across the public sector in an ethical way and support the public’s understanding of how AI is being used in government.

Joint initiatives could focus on enhancing public services through AI-driven solutions, such as predictive analytics for healthcare, smart infrastructure management, and personalised education programmes. Additionally, this may involve fostering a culture that supports innovation through training programmes and pilot projects, to accelerate AI adoption across various sectors.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see the establishment of a public sector working group that will facilitate collaboration on AI adoption and ethics in government.

Sponsor: Eilidh McLaughlin (Deputy Director, Digital Ethics, Inclusion and Assurance Digital Directorate, Scottish Government) and Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

Scottish Government deliverables

5.2 Ethical adoption of AI

Since the publication of the 2021 digital strategy, the Scottish Government has undertaken a range of public and expert led engagements to develop an ethical approach to AI. As part of this, the work of the Scottish AI Alliance has helped to raise awareness of ethical AI practice. Key to future success will be the development of capacity and a stronger understanding of AI across Scottish public sector workforces, accompanied by clear guidance on ethical approaches. The AI Register and cross-public sector knowledge sharing will help underpin this approach.

By 2026, the Scottish Government will develop an ethical framework on AI. This will bring together a library of frameworks that can be used according to the needs of individual public sector organisations, and which will provide ethical assurance and build public trust.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• a clear policy statement on the ethical use of AI in the public sector and continued use of the AI Register
• a holistic digital ethics approach developed and promoted, together with the continuation of developing understanding of new and existing use of AI in the Scottish public sector

Sponsor: Eilidh McLaughlin (Deputy Director, Digital Ethics, Inclusion and Assurance Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

The following are part of ‘Scotland’s Public Service Reform Strategy – Delivering for Scotland (June 2025)’:

5.3 Piloting AI

By 2028, we will identify and pilot opportunities to use AI in public service operations to deliver efficiencies, such as predicting demand, streamlining administrative tasks, monitoring outcomes for prevention and targeting interventions.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see ethical and innovative development of AI in specific public services.

Sponsor: Tom Wilkinson (Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government)

5.4 CivTech innovation programme

By 2028, the Scottish Government expects to invest up to £16 million to support the development of solutions to around 24 CivTech challenges. CivTech’s mission is to drive daring and innovation in the public sector by collaboratively solving challenges to make people’s lives better, and in doing so creating generations of high growth potential, sustainable businesses.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• innovative new solutions to public sector challenges supporting public sector reform and other priorities
• embedding a culture of innovation and the entrepreneurial mindset in the Scottish Government and public sector
• evidence on the impact CivTech generated innovations are having on the public sector and wider economy, such as the number of new jobs created in Scotland as a result of CivTech solutions
• new companies continuing to be established in Scotland

Sponsor: Mark Elliott (Head, CivTech Division Head, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government)

Local Government deliverables

5.5 ‘Internet of Things’ innovation

By 2028, Local Government will adopt a collaborative approach to developing and implementing ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) solutions across health and social care, housing, property estates, and environmental sustainability. This will involve establishing effective processes, partnerships, and frameworks to enable the sharing and scaling of innovation. It will be supported by evidence-based investment and funding strategies. Local Government will use this approach to deliver a targeted innovation project for energy management across council property estates, developing a robust business case to enable the scaling of these solutions.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• deployment of smart energy management systems using IoT devices across council property estates, enabling real-time monitoring and data-driven optimisation of energy use
• expansion of IoT solutions in health and social care, housing, and environmental sustainability, leading to improved service delivery through enhanced connectivity, automation, and evidence-based decision-making

Sponsor: Colin Birchenall (Chief Technology Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government).

5.6 AI innovation and collaboration

By 2028, Local Government will establish comprehensive policy and strategy frameworks to guide the collaborative development of AI solutions within the public sector. This will be supported by ongoing capability building to ensure that staff possess the digital skills and confidence to fully engage with AI technologies. Through structured partnerships and co-design approaches, Local Government will deliver innovative AI programmes, piloting and scaling successful projects across multiple services. All initiatives will be underpinned by rigorous technical assurance processes, ensuring that AI solutions are secure, interoperable, and deliver measurable value in full alignment with data governance and regulatory standards.

As we work to deliver this, you can expect to see:

• development of a national AI governance framework aligned to public sector values, to support councils in creating local policies, and promote sector-wide standards through the Generative AI Framework and collaborative roundtables
• establishment of a Technical Assurance Group, to share risk and governance templates, and maintain a national AI Registry to monitor responsible AI use
• coordination of shared pilots and proof-of-concepts, creation of a unified procurement framework, and promotion of the reuse of successful AI tools to help create common platforms to maximise efficiency whilst reducing costs
• building Local Government Sector AI capability through training, peer learning, and inclusive design practices, while addressing challenges like shadow AI and public trust through citizen engagement and awareness campaigns

Sponsor: Martyn Wallace (Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government)

What will this mean for people in Scotland?

Innovation, AI and advanced technologies will transform public service delivery in profound and measurable ways. Innovators, entrepreneurs, and businesses in Scotland will continue to be supported as CivTech provides them with unprecedented routes to developing products the public sector needs. The public sector will be able to collaborate and innovate in a cost-effective environment to co-produce solutions to organisational problems.

Innovation and AI: beyond 2028

Beyond 2028, we will be considering jointly, how to maximise consistency across public sector procurement requirements in terms of AI and advanced technology, taking steps to re-use to minimise duplication.

CivTech will continue to explore how it can fully support the public sector and how innovation can be capitalised on to deliver good quality outcomes.