WELCOME EDITORIAL


Kevin O’Sullivan 0131 357 4472


kevin@futurescot.com


COMMERCIAL Vincenzo Veglia Head of Sales 0131 357 4475


vincenzo@futurescot.com Harry Dickinson


Business Development harry@futurescot.com 0131 357 4473


HEAD OF EVENTS Vincenzo Veglia 0131 357 4475


vincenzo@futurescot.com


PUBLISHER Hamish Miller 0131 357 4470


hamish@futurescot.com


FUTURESCOT EDINBURGH


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DESIGN & PRODUCTION Palmer Watson


www.palmerwatson.com TYPOGRAPHY


Acta by Dino Dos Santos DSType Foundry www.dstype.com


Flama by Mario Feliciano www.felicianotypefoundry.com FutureScot is an independent publication by


Canongate Communications distributed in The Times


Scotland. All rights reserved. Neither this publication or part of it may be stored,


reproduced or transmitted, electronically, photocopied or recorded without prior


permission of the Publisher. FutureScot is published and


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For daily tech news, events, and weekly newsletter go towww.futurescot.com FUTURESCOT | SPRING 2020 | 3


CONTENTS


4 Briefings 5 Digital Directorate 6 Tech for Good competition 7 Tech sector reacts to COVID-19 8 University of Edinburgh DDI 11 CivTech launch fund 12 Fighting the pandemic


14 Data specialists join COVID-19 effort


15 Emis Health 16 Healthcare 4.0 18 Virus research 19 Virtual care in action 20 CivTech joins climate fight 22 Benefits of the Cloud 24 DESC project latest 26 Modernising policing 28 NCSC in Scotland 30 Courses in cyber 31 Legal tech


32 Building Information Modelling


34 Public buildings data 35 VKY Intelligent Automation


COMMERCIAL


FutureScot’s young and aspirational readership of 60,000 business leaders and innovators (The Times Scotland) is supplemented by direct distribution to politicians, civil servants, academia, and the wider technology sectors. If you would like to see your organisation or client featured in FutureScot magazine, or on Futurescot.com please contact us now.


Our biggest challenge just got gazumped


Climate change is probably the single greatest challenge facing humanity. Or at least it was, until the grim spectre of COVID-19 arose from Wuhan in China and suddenly threw the world into turmoil. Te tech sector, though, has in many ways been at the forefront of the response. Where other sectors have been decimated – most notably in the leisure, hospitality and events markets – technology companies have simply turned on the taps, with many platforms - particularly office communications tools - showing huge spikes in traffic and demand. Naturally, digital infrastructure is a bit creaky as


unprecedented numbers went from the daily commute to a lockdown, and trying to figure out how to work Microsoft Teams. Day three, and we’re still using old- fashioned Skype, but I’m sure we’ll get there. Netflix is


streaming in low-res – which is pretty obvious from the pixel count – and something odd keeps throwing me off WhatsApp calls; it has to be the bandwidth, right? Putting this issue to bed, though, and it’s been


truly impressive the way a global crisis has brought people together. Collaboration is so oft-repeated it feels like a bit of a jaded word, and sometimes out of kilter with real, lived experience. But communities of digital innovators in Scotland and around the world are coming together to work out a way through this. Perhaps it’s inevitable that when our survival instincts are tested, the natural inclination is to cooperate for the greater good. If only we could be so constructive when it comes to saving the planet from ourselves. Once we’re through COVID-19, let’s see if we can continue this enforced environmentalism with renewed vigour. l


“Tis is all about how we can embed


innovation in real-life practice in the region”


Jarmo Eskelinen, Executive Director, Data-Driven Innovation Initiative, University of Edinburgh


EVENTS


For more information on attending FutureScot Conferences please refer to the Events page on FutureScot.com or email vincenzo@ futurescot.com. Call 0131 357 4475


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