Why not take the first step? Becoming a CivTech Challenge Sponsor

Every meaningful change starts the same way: with a moment of curiosity. A spark. A question that just won’t stay quiet. For many public and third sector teams across Scotland, that moment arrives when they realise a challenge they’ve been trying to solve (sometimes for years) might finally have a chance to be addressed in a fresh, exciting way. And often, that’s the beginning of their CivTech journey.

Imagine you’re in a meeting room - the kind with scribbled whiteboards and half‑finished coffees - discussing a problem that keeps coming back. A process that slows things down, a service that could be improved, a barrier that holds things up. Then someone says, “What if we didn’t try to fix this alone?”

That simple question is the first step toward becoming a CivTech Challenge Sponsor - and right now, CivTech is looking for organisations to join the next round of Challenges, launching in summer 2026.

Every Challenge starts with something simple: a real-world problem that matters. CivTech works with you to turn that problem into an Open Challenge — an invitation to innovators and creative thinkers to develop new solutions. You don’t need to know the answer; in fact, the process works because you don’t. You define the problem, not the solution, leaving space for unexpected ideas to emerge.

A photo taken during a Challenge Sponsor workshop session at CodeBase, Edinburgh - where Sponsors met with the CivTech Innovation Team to explore their challenges.

Once your Challenge is out in the world, something special begins. Innovators from across Scotland (and beyond) start looking at your problem through fresh eyes. Over the course of the Accelerator, ideas become prototypes, prototypes become products, and often those products go on to transform services, organisations, and even whole sectors.

And this isn’t hypothetical. Across Scotland, CivTech Challenges have already delivered remarkable, measurable impact. A digital-first citizen communications platform developed through CivTech is projected to save the Scottish Government over £100 million by 2027. Forestry and Land Scotland’s Challenge to improve tree production led to innovations that increased seedling survival rates from around 30% to over 75%, unlocking a step-change in Scotland’s planting capacity. Health-focused Challenges have supported the development of breakthrough digital tools helping women manage menopause symptoms more confidently. Meanwhile, Scotland became home to the world’s first national AI Register through a CivTech Challenge. Other projects are transforming economic insight, improving justice pathways, and strengthening frontline support services: from data systems offering an unprecedented national view of business activity, to AI tools that help Citizens Advice Scotland provide faster, more effective help to people who need it most.

These are just a few examples of what happens when public and third sector organisations choose to open their challenges to Scotland’s innovation ecosystem. Real problems become real solutions — and the benefits ripple out to teams, communities, and citizens.

Image taken at the launch of the Round 10 Accelerator, where all participating teams showcased their products and met with Mr Lochhead, Minister for Business, at Leith Theatre in Edinburgh.

To be a great Challenge Sponsor, you don’t need technical expertise — just curiosity, commitment, and a desire to make things work better. All you need is a meaningful problem, a willingness to share data and insight, and some time each week to collaborate during the Accelerator. When Sponsors fully engage, the results can be transformative.

If any part of this feels familiar - if there’s a challenge in your organisation that hasn’t yet found the right way forward — this might be the moment to explore something new. Starting the conversation is as simple as emailing civtech@gov.scot, where the CivTech team is ready to guide you. And if you’d like to learn more first, upcoming online sessions in early 2026 will walk you through the process and share stories directly from past Sponsors.

CivTech has seen time and again what happens when organisations are brave enough to open their challenges to innovation. New solutions emerge. Teams grow. Services improve. And ultimately, citizens - the centre of everything - benefit.

Maybe the question isn’t “Why become a Challenge Sponsor?”

Maybe it’s simply: “Why not take the first step?”