Innovative and ambitious companies are being tasked with driving public sector innovation.
Unlocking the cultural and economic potential of the Gaelic language is one of eight new public sector challenges tech companies are being invited to tackle in a new round of CivTech, the Scottish Government’s business accelerator.
Other challenges to feature in this year’s programme include reducing teacher workload and improving living and working conditions for people living with musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis.
Entrepreneurs and companies selected to enter CivTech 11 will have the opportunity to develop their concepts on CivTech’s world class accelerator and secure contracts to turn their solutions into full commercial products.
More than 100 companies have passed through the Accelerator phase of CivTech since it launched in 2016, with more than 400 jobs and every pound of public investment leveraging five times as much in private funding.
This year’s challenges include:
Challenge 11.1: How can technology help manage the impact of Marine Pen Fish Farms more sustainably?
Sponsor: Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
SEPA is seeking innovative, non-invasive technology to monitor the ecological effects of Marine Pen Fish Farms (MPFF) on rocky seabeds and sensitive marine habitats where traditional sampling is not possible. The goal is to develop a scientifically robust, quantitative method to ensure MPFF operations remain within environmental limits, supporting sustainable aquaculture while protecting critical habitats like maerl beds and horse mussel reefs.
Current monitoring tools are designed for soft sediments, leaving a gap in assessing impacts on harder substrates. This challenge aims to close that gap by creating a practical, field-tested method, supported by a tool and clear implementation guidance. Solutions should integrate with SEPA’s systems, be affordable for fish farm operators, and provide data strong enough to inform regulatory decisions.
Successful outcomes would include a piloted monitoring method, applicable across various habitat types, and metrics to track changes over time. The technology should have potential for broader use by regulators and environmental consultancies beyond Scotland.
Applications close 2 September 2025. A Q&A session will be held online on 11 August 2025. The winning solution could secure a contract of up to £650,000 + VAT to deliver the project.
Challenge 11.2: How can technology unlock the cultural and economic potential of Gaelic by addressing the lack of high-quality data?
Sponsor: Scottish Government, Directorate for Education Reform
Scottish Gaelic, like many minority languages, faces a critical digital challenge: data sparsity. Without sufficient, high-quality speech and text datasets, the development of reliable language technologies — such as machine translation, voice recognition, and AI tools — is severely limited. This CivTech Challenge seeks innovative solutions to close that data gap, helping Gaelic thrive in the digital age while safeguarding cultural heritage and unlocking economic opportunities.
The goal is to create a foundational dataset robust enough to support cutting-edge tools for education, broadcasting, accessibility, and tourism. For example, better data could enable real-time subtitling, personalised AI tutors, voice synthesis for media, or conversational chatbots for language learners and visitors. Such tools would benefit not only Gaelic speakers but also a global audience of learners and enthusiasts.
The commercial potential is vast. A solution for Gaelic could be adapted to other low-resource languages worldwide, opening new opportunities for developers, entrepreneurs, and cultural organisations.
Applications close 2 September 2025. A Q&A session will take place online on 18 August 2025. The winning proposal could receive a contract of up to £650,000 + VAT to deliver a groundbreaking solution.
Challenge 11.3: How can technology reduce the environmental and social impact of litter at Arrochar?
Sponsor: The GRAB Trust
Arrochar, on Loch Long, has been officially recognised as a “litter sink” since 2017, where tides, currents, and winds funnel marine plastics and waste into the area. Over decades, this accumulation has become an environmental hazard, threatening wildlife, degrading biodiversity, and damaging the local community’s quality of life. Plastics entangle marine animals, break down into microplastics carrying toxins, and create costly disposal challenges. With Scotland’s landfill restrictions tightening from January 2026, current mechanical or manual methods of clearing the litter are no longer sustainable.
This CivTech Challenge seeks innovative, technology-driven solutions to tackle Arrochar’s litter crisis. Approaches could include robotics or other sustainable technologies capable of separating plastics from seaweed and organic matter, reducing environmental impact and enabling recycling or reuse.
A successful solution would restore Arrochar as a scenic destination, boost tourism, protect wildlife, and create economic opportunities through improved local infrastructure and environmental health.
Applications close 2 September 2025. An online Q&A session will be held on 12 August 2025. The project offers up to £650,000 + VAT to develop a scalable solution that could be applied to other coastal litter sinks in Scotland and beyond.
Challenge 11.4: How can innovation and technology improve life and work engagement for people with long-term health conditions, starting with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions?
Sponsors: Scottish Government (Directorate for Jobs and Wellbeing Economy), Dumfries & Galloway City Council, Glasgow City Council
Musculoskeletal conditions such as back pain, arthritis, and repetitive strain injuries are among Scotland’s leading causes of working-age disability. They affect mobility, sleep, mental health, and independence — often leading to long-term economic inactivity, poverty, and reduced life expectancy. Disconnected healthcare, social care, and employer support systems mean many people receive late or insufficient intervention, making return-to-work harder.
This CivTech Challenge seeks innovative, technology-led solutions to:
The ideal solution could incorporate wearable sensors, assistive technologies, data integration with NHS/HR systems, or even digital twin models for personalised work reintegration.
Success will be measured by reduced sickness absence, lower economic inactivity, improved user confidence, and accessible, GDPR-compliant integration with existing health and employer systems.
Applications close 2 September 2025, with up to £650,000 + VAT available. The winning solution has potential for national and global markets, addressing health-related economic inactivity and extending to other conditions like long-COVID or mental health.
Challenge 11.5: How can technology help us better understand the potential impacts of government decisions?
Sponsor: Office of the Chief Social Policy Adviser & Scottish Government Policy Profession
Impact Assessments (IAs) are vital for ensuring government policies consider their effects on people, businesses, and the environment. Currently, the system is fragmented, manual, and resource-heavy. Teams must navigate up to eight different IAs — each with its own templates and processes — often resulting in inefficiencies, inconsistent quality, and missed opportunities to use past evidence.
This CivTech Challenge seeks a digital, automated, and evidence-driven tool to transform the IA process. Potential solutions could include AI or machine learning to surface relevant evidence, identify unintended impacts early, and help policy teams produce higher-quality, consistent, and transparent assessments. Digital tools could also make IA outputs searchable and accessible to the public.
The successful solution will:
Applications close 2 September 2025, with £350,000 + VAT funding available. The solution could have significant commercial potential for other public bodies in Scotland, across the UK, and internationally.
Challenge 11.6: How can technology reduce teacher workload?
Sponsor: Scottish Government, Directorate for Learning
Teacher workloads have increased dramatically, with tasks ranging from lesson planning and reporting to managing complaints and administrative duties often pushing teachers beyond contracted hours. This challenge seeks innovative, user-driven technological solutions that meaningfully reduce workload, allowing teachers to focus on teaching and learner outcomes.
The CivTech programme aims to develop tools informed by in-depth user research that capture the varied experiences of teachers across roles (e.g., classroom teachers, headteachers), career stages, and school contexts (primary, secondary, and special schools). Solutions should address administrative pain points, improve efficiency, and reflect teachers’ needs without undermining core aspects of their professional roles.
The successful solution will:
Funding of up to £1,000,000 + VAT is available, with applications closing 2 September 2025. The opportunity has significant commercial potential, given that teacher workload is a global challenge across public and private education systems.
Challenge 11.7: How can technology increase the positive impact of Scotland’s festivals for the public, culture sector, and economy?
Sponsor: Scottish Government, Directorate of Culture and External Affairs
Scotland hosts over 200 festivals annually, from world-renowned events like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to local cultural celebrations. These festivals generate hundreds of millions for the economy and play a crucial role in Scotland’s cultural identity. However, rising accommodation costs, limited public transport, and fragmented infrastructure are pricing out performers, locals, and visitors — threatening the diversity, accessibility, and sustainability of festivals.
This challenge seeks innovative, tech-driven solutions to address infrastructure pressures, making festivals more inclusive, accessible, and economically resilient. Potential solutions could include coordinated transport systems, flexible accommodation platforms, or tools that optimise logistics and affordability for all participants.
A successful solution will:
Funding of up to £350,000 + VAT is available. Applications close 2 September 2025, with significant commercial opportunities for scaling to other large-scale events, including international festivals and sporting events.
Challenge 11.8: How can the public sector ensure a safe, secure, and transparent adoption of robotics?
Sponsor: The National Robotarium & Scottish Government, Directorate for Digital
Robotics technology is advancing rapidly, offering significant opportunities to improve public services by automating dull, dangerous, or repetitive tasks. However, unlike traditional IT systems, robots physically interact with the world, making cyber-attacks potentially dangerous — causing operational disruptions, safety hazards, or physical harm.
This Challenge seeks innovative solutions to ensure robotics systems in the public sector are resilient, trustworthy, and secure against evolving cyber threats. Applicants can address either or both components:
Successful solutions will help public sector procurement and security teams identify risks and manage threats confidently, supporting safe robotics adoption across sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics.
The contract value is up to £1,200,000 + VAT. Applications close 2 September 2025. The commercial opportunity extends beyond Scotland to global markets needing robust robotics security.
Commenting on the launch of CivTech 11, business minister Richard Lochhead said: “Innovation is the backbone of our economy and our society. Where there are problems and challenges, there are solutions to be harnessed by tapping into the creativity and ingenuity of the start-up community and capitalising on rapidly-evolving technology such as AI.
“Now in its tenth year, CivTech has had a hugely positive impact on public sector services and beyond, with solutions ranging from a digital communication roll-out that could save the taxpayer £100 million a year, to products and services improving lives and prospects across healthcare, education and key front-line services.
“Success rates for the companies and products developed are very high with some 80% of the products created through the programme in use, far surpassing the average private sector accelerator rates. I look forward to another round of the programme continuing to revolutionise our public services while giving our brightest business minds the support and encouragement to develop their business ideas.”
