Ask your Great Uncle Shug why we can’t play cricket and he won’t explain the reasons for losing all 11 matches played in three World Cups, surpassing the Netherlands’ record of 10 successive defeats from debut.
No, he’ll tell you instead what Scots are really good at: inventing stuff – like the telephone, roads, TV and haggis.
And they didn’t have computers in those days, he’ll add, just a box of spanners and some gaffer tape.
Efficiency Through Technology will focus on groundbreaking ICT technologies.
It comes as no surprise to Great Uncle Shug, then, that the past decade has seen Scotland establish itself as one of the front-runners in Information Technology innovation.
Hardware, software and computer systems companies have, time and again, put their faith and investment in Scotland’s IT industry, and Scottish universities lead the way in IT research and skills development.
Such is our dedication to the Jedi-like pursuit of IT excellence, the government also plays its own pivotal role in ensuring the IT sector leads from the front.
This will be most evident at Holyrood’s “Efficiency Through Technology” conference at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on March 17.
Here, IT experts will discuss new and groundbreaking ICT technologies that can drastically help increase efficiency across the public sector. The conference comes at a time when demand for high-quality, efficient public services has never been higher, and where digital technology is playing a more pivotal role than ever in connecting people with public services and in communicating with local and central government.
The importance of the relationship between IT efficiency and local government cannot be understated. Efficient systems lead to better resource management and date utilisation.
Attending the event will open doors to new technologies that can help maximise efficiency and date processing in organisations, build professional networks and help understand the key issues in ICTs today.
A discussion and breakdown of Scotland’s public service IT efficiency since the McLelland report is also on the agenda, and speakers will talk about IT innovation and efficiency.
Scotland is here to stay as an IT power house. Efficiency Through Technology offers the chance to be part of the debate about what direction Scotland takes next in IT.
If you simply can’t wait until the event to join the discussion on Scotland’s governmental IT efficiency, or maybe you’ve come to this article too late, don’t dare hit that sleep button! Simply follow @HolyroodConnect to to join the debate and get an overview of the event and its aspirations.
Alternatively, trust Great Uncle Shug to explain ITC. He’ll tell you it was a Scostman who invented warp speed using nothing more than a crocodile clip and box of dilithium crystals.