About
The Scotland Innovates project, what it is, and who is involved.
The Scotland Innovates service provides an easy to use, secure route to connect with the Scottish Public Sector and NHS Scotland.
This service has been developed as part of a collaborative project between Scottish Government Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate (SPPD) and National Services Scotland (NSS), working together with representatives from Scotland Excel, Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC), Scottish Enterprise and Civtech amongst others.
This new service builds on the success of the Health Innovation Assessment Portal (HIAP), expanding the submission and assessment of innovative products and solutions across the entire Scottish Public Sector.
It also provides potential suppliers with information, guidance and support on how to develop ideas and innovations into products and technologies that may be of use in the provision of public services in Scotland.
Scotland Innovates provides a landing zone for current and potential suppliers looking to promote new ideas for innovative products or services. As part of the assessment function, it provides strong links to key stakeholder groups, Innovation Leads and Scottish Government Chief Science Office and Economy Directorate.
For further information on the submission and assessment process, please refer to the guidance within the Useful Resources section.
Scottish Government
The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland with a range of responsibilities that include: the economy, education, health, justice, rural affairs, housing, environment, equal opportunities, consumer advocacy and advice, transport and taxation.
The National Performance Framework sets out the overall purpose and vision for Scotland. It highlights the broad national outcomes that support the purpose and provides measures on how well Scotland is progressing towards them.
Find out more about the National Performance Framework.
The annual Programme for Government sets out the policies, actions and legislation that we will take forward each year - you can read it on the gov.scot website.
Further Information on Scottish Government, including our vision for innovation, can be found on the Scottish Government website.
SPPD Innovation Branch
In 2021 the Scottish Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise requested that a Push/Supplier Led Innovation platform be developed for Non-Health Sectors. At the same time, discovery activity was undertaken by the National Innovation Steering Group to understand the challenges faced in relation to Innovation within Health and Social Care.
It was agreed to align these projects and develop an innovation service platform for the entire Public Sector: Scotland Innovates. Scottish Government SPPD are the service owners, while NSS are co-developers.
All wider public sector innovations submitted to the Scotland Innovates service will be triaged by the Scotland Innovates Triage and Delivery Board, and assessed by experienced and qualified stakeholders within the relevant sector(s); Central Government, Local Authority or Education.
The Procurement of Innovation branch within SPPD is a new branch, tasked with understanding barriers to innovation in the public sector and working to overcome them with others. The branch will, with others, oversee improvements in both the procurement and commercialisation of public sector innovation projects.
NHS
The Innovation and Improvement team are part of NHS National Procurement, the Centre of Expertise for the Scotland’s health sector
The Scotland Innovates service is the new location for the submission of your Health sector Innovations which was previously managed by the Health Innovation Assessment Portal (HIAP).
The Innovation and Improvement Team have worked hard to extend the reach of Scotland Innovates to ensure we now consider the whole Health and Social Care setting. There are a number of enhancements to the functionality previously provided via the HIAP website, and we now have a procurement accelerator service with closer links to Innovation Leads from all Health Boards.
The innovation landscape is wide and varied. We are connected to the Scottish Health Industry Partnership, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, National Innovation Leads, Regional Test Beds, other innovation teams such as SHIL and CivTech, as well as specialist resource at Health Boards.
Find out more about NHS NSS and NHS National Procurement.
One of the aims of Scotland Innovates is to create a one stop shop for innovation information. As part of the service provided through Scotland Innovates, we will help to ensure an innovative company understands the current commercial business model and develops a sustainable business model that is relevant and acceptable to all Health Boards. The method of doing this in a focused, time efficient and accessible process is a key part of our service.
The Scotland innovates core team will manage and oversee the 5-step Scotland Innovates process.
They will manage correspondence from citizens and suppliers, manage the triage of submissions and onward identification of assessors with staff across the public sector. They will also provide appropriate feedback from assessors to citizens and suppliers and, where relevant, identify delivery routes to market for those innovations which the public sector agrees to take forward.
Team Contact Details
Gary Robinson, SPPD Innovation Lead
Gary leads the SPPD Innovation branch and is one of the sponsors of the Scotland Innovates service.
Laura Robertson, SPPD Procurement of Innovation Co-Ordinator
Laura triages innovations alongside a cross sectoral team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), co-ordinates submission assessments and highlights specific support available to stakeholders.
Jack Graham, SPPD Procurement of Innovation Specialist
Jack assists with the triaging process, supports the submission assessment process and provides a point of contact for stakeholders.
Any queries relating to Scotland Innovates for the wider public sector should be directed to: ScotlandInnovates@gov.scot.
Adriana Roemmele, Health Innovation and Improvement Lead
Adriana leads the NHS team and links to many of the internal and external stakeholder groups as well as providing support to innovation companies.
Rebecca Cruickshanks, Health Innovation and Improvement Programme Manager
Rebecca carries provides innovation specific support to companies as well as procurement guidance working with key stakeholders.
David Beattie, Health Innovation and Improvement Programme Manager
David manages all web contact, actively monitors and closes feedback to innovation companies and is often the first point of contact.
Any queries relating to Scotland Innovates for the Health Sector should be directed to: NSS.ScotlandInnovates@nhs.scot.
Partnerships
In creating the new Scotland Innovates service we have worked in partnership with various sectors and organisations across the public sector:
Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC)
APUC is the procurement Centre of Expertise for Scotland’s universities and colleges. APUC’s core vision is "To maximise the value of Scotland's investment in further and higher education by working in partnership with institutions to support and enable sustainable innovation in procurement and shared service optimisation".
APUC will be represented on the Scotland Innovates Triage and Delivery Board.
Further information on APUC, including key information on available frameworks and information for suppliers can be found on the APUC website.
Scotland Excel
Scotland Excel is the Centre of Procurement Expertise for the local government sector. They are a non-profit organisation serving Scotland’s 32 local authorities and over 100 associate members from across the public and third sector.
Scotland Excel will be represented on the Scotland Innovates Triage and Delivery Board.
Further information on Scotland Excel, including key information on their services, frameworks and goals can be found on the Scotland Excel website.
Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise is Scotland's national economic development agency. They are committed to growing the Scottish economy for the benefit of all, helping to create more quality jobs and a brighter future for every region.
Scottish Enterprise will be a member of the Scotland Innovates Triage and Delivery Board.
Civtech
Civtech 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 sustainable, high growth businesses.
While the new Scotland Innovates service relates to push supplier led innovation, Civtech colleagues will be a member of the Scotland Innovates Triage and Delivery Board and may work with sectors to support authorities to take solutions to market where appropriate.
Further information on Civtech can be found on their website.