I have had the tremendous privilege of travelling widely in my professional role and have seen first-hand in many countries the huge impact on society that technology can have.
Overall the effect on countries at every stage of development is positive. In many cases the contribution can be life changing.
I have devoted much of my professional life to promoting the benefits of technology in many aspects of life in Scotland.
Microsoft have recently been involved in developing a Digital Blueprint for Scotland, looking at what it might take to empower a world-leading Digital Scotland.
Our Blueprint makes recommendations for 2016 as we choose who will represent us in Parliament and who will form our next Scottish Government.
The recommendations are able to draw on work commissioned by the Scottish Futures Trust and on other surveys from the Office of the Chief Economist, the Federation of Small Businesses and from regular member research conducted by our trade body for the ICT Industry, Scotland IS.
The message appears simple. There is a huge prize waiting to be grasped by Scotland if we can truly commit to becoming a world-leading digital nation by 2030.
The prize is not just about economic growth nor is it a prize that will be shared only by those who sell or create technology solutions and services.
It is a prize that can also improve life chances and quality of life for many of the citizens of Scotland.
Delivering the benefits of a Digital Nation is all about collaboration. Partnership between public and private, commercial and third sector, government and citizen – these relationships can be challenging and occasionally difficult or complex to manage. However, the evidence from across the globe is that once we reach agreement on the goal of becoming a truly great Digital Nation then we know the effort and end result will be worth it.
Let us take education, one of my personal passions. Glow is potentially a world-class intranet for schools, a cloud-based platform that gives every Scottish pupil and teacher the opportunity to participate in a highly personalised learning journey and to truly reach out beyond their own classroom, school or local authority as part of their learning and teaching experience.
There are some fantastic examples of imaginative use which are inspiring both teachers and pupils.
My own organisation has in our Blueprint committed to working with all the local authorities and others to develop a number of showcase schools where the use of digital technology will encourage other schools to adopt a similar approach.
We are also committing to widening our Innovative Educator programme to every school by 2020, sooner if local authorities want us to be more ambitious collectively.
I said before it’s all about strong partnership and we in the technology sector look forward to working with all organisations or individuals involved.
The Scottish Futures Trust report, based on scenario planning and forecasting by Deloitte, suggests that we could add a cumulative £100 billion of GDP to our economy from now to 2030.
That is a big number but what does that mean to the citizens of Scotland? It means more high value jobs being created. It means helping local Scottish businesses to grow internationally. It means improving our public services whilst providing a more personal service. It means a step change in improving educational outcomes. It means helping to get all of us healthier and fitter and ultimately saving lives.
Scotland has every reason to be proud of its heritage and history. However, that has required continuous reinvention as once great industries have declined.
The successful creation of a world- leading Digital Nation is an achievement that would define a nation for generations.
Steven Grier is Country Manager, Scotland, for Microsoft UK.
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