Collaboration in the Tech for Good ecosystem
Collaboration and the development and promotion of the tech for good ecosystem are key themes for us in the Scottish Tech Army. We believe that, while there are many great programmes and projects being carried out under the banner of tech for good, the landscape remains fragmented and that as a result, the impact is less than it could be.
The tech and tech-dependent industries have massive resources of people, technology and finance that can be harnessed and directed towards social good outcomes. A number of leading companies have already made large and long-term commitments to tech for good and we are delighted to be able to feature 4 of these organisations in a panel discussion – Tech for Good Titans – at our upcoming Tech for Good Summit. The discussion will be chaired by Raymond O’Hare, formerly Country Manager for Scotland at Microsoft and now Chair of Technology & Change Board, ENABLE Scotland. The panel will be made up of representatives of JP Morgan, Microsoft, IBM and Salesforce, who will be discussing the programmes within their companies, the impact that they have delivered to date and the benefits derived by the organisations themselves, over and above the benefits they have delivered externally. We will also be looking at the potential and the reality of cross-organisation collaboration to aggregate and amplify the impact that can be delivered across the ecosystem.
The full programme and registration for the Summit are available at http://sta.ngo/summit.
The theme of collaboration is also integral to another initiative to which the Scottish Tech Army was invited in late 2021 – JP Morgan has convened a regular meeting, the Tech for Good Symposium, involving a number of companies that have active tech for good programmes that are keen to collaborate. There is a wide range of organisations involved in the programme, including all of the companies noted above, primarily involving their teams in North America, and a group of them are in the process of preparing for the first collaborative project to which they will all commit volunteers. This initiative is being facilitated by Venture 2 Impact, a North American-based organisation that uses design thinking and human-centred design to solve complex challenges by linking global communities to skilled volunteers.
The Scottish Tech Army is also in discussions with Venture 2 Impact with a view to creating a follow-on event after the Tech for Good Summit, in the week beginning 23rd of May, to catalyse new initiatives using this collaborative model. More details will be available at the Summit and you can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up with this and other Summit follow-up events.
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