Always on
This project successfully funded on 30th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
National Conversations
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Aim
25 years on from devolution, we need to put digital technology at the heart of political life in Scotland and Wales
As digital professionals from the public and private sectors, we believe the 25th anniversary of our parliaments is the right time to reflect and open national conversations on digital technology.
The new millennium also saw the birth of the modern digital world, which demands the same democratic attention.
Digital technologies are now central to how we access healthcare, jobs, and government services. They connect us, and divide us, they bring great benefits, but also great harms. Yet we rarely talk about how we want them to serve our nations.
Join us in calling for a future where digital is central — and where we have a say in how it evolves.
If you share this vision, join us in the national conversation to make digital technology central to the Senedd and Holyrood elections in 2026.
To add your name to the pledge and signup for notification of events in the run up to the elections in May please sign our open letter at National Conversations.
Who we are
This is a joint initiative of Transform Wales and Foundations of the Digital State.
What we've done already
There was a parliamentary drop in at Holyrood with all parts of the tech sector from economic development, startup support, R&D, GovTech and CivTech:
and events in Wales like Gov Camp Cymru in the main government buildings in Cardiff that brought civil servants and practitioners together to discuss the challenges:
and more work behind the scenes across the civil service and civil society in both Scotland and Wales.
How will we spend your money?
The preparation, the thinking and the analysis has been done, let's make change happen - help us put these critical issues on the agenda in the May elections.
Before the elections
We are organising public meetings and conversations across Scotland and Wales, involving all the major political parties and the entire digital sector.
Nobody has all the answers - but everyone's voice must be heard - not just from Scotland and Wales, but the wider UK and Europe.
Your money will help us do that
After the elections
We will be delivering our bookshelf to all the newly elected members of the Scottish Parliament and Senedd. It contains:
Platformland: An Anatomy of Next Generation Public Services by Richard Pope - a recipe book for transformed, world-class digital public services based on his work at GDS in Whitehall and Research Fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard.
Transforming Public Services for a Modern Wales by Ann Kempster, Dai Vaughan, Jo Carter and Nia Campbell - a collective of seasoned digital professionals with extensive experience of delivering modern public services.
The Foundations of the Digital State by Gordon Guthrie - a detailed examination off digital decision making based on his experience as an international tech executive and his Research Fellowship at Scottish Government.
We need both your money and your support - please sign our open letter over at National Conversations and give us money here.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made