Briefing Note: CivTech 11 Challenge 9 – £1 million to Overcome

Barriers to Accessing Key Online Services

Helping Citizens Access Essential Digital Services with Confidence 

The Scottish Government’s CivTech 11 Challenge 9 invites innovative solutions to help people overcome barriers to accessing vital online services. Despite investment in digital connectivity and devices, many citizens still face non-technical obstacles such as low confidence, limited skills, accessibility issues, or lack of trust. Backed by the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate, this challenge seeks partners to develop inclusive, user-centred technology that ensures everyone—regardless of background or ability—can safely and easily access public and essential online services. 

Why This Matters to You 

This initiative presents a major opportunity for local authorities, third-sector organisations, and digital innovators to transform how citizens engage with public services. It supports your ambitions to: 

✅ Close the digital divide by enabling all residents to use essential online services such as healthcare, benefits, and education. 

✅ Reduce service delivery costs by increasing digital self-service and decreasing dependency on in-person or phone support. 

✅ Boost citizen trust and inclusion through accessible, privacy-first, and multilingual design. 

✅ Enhance local digital capability by developing and testing scalable solutions that can be replicated across Scotland. 

Opportunities 

✅ AI-Driven Digital Assistance: Use conversational AI, guided workflows, or voice interfaces to help people complete complex online tasks confidently. 

✅ Inclusive Service Design: Create multi-language, accessibility-friendly, and adaptive platforms that meet diverse user needs. 

✅ Community-Based Pilots: Test local support hubs, digital ambassadors, or trusted intermediaries to build user confidence. 

✅ Interoperable Solutions: Connect systems across health, welfare, and education to streamline service access. 

This challenge aligns with Scotland’s digital inclusion and equality priorities, offering funding of up to GBP 1 million to turn ideas into working solutions through a funded exploration and accelerator phase. 

How Intelligens Consulting Can Help 

Treasury’s updated expectations mean councils will need to prepare high-level, portfolio business cases that: 

• Define strategic place-based objectives 

  
  

• Align with local priorities and national goals 

  
  

• Integrate delivery across departments and external partners (e.g. telecoms, housing, NHS) 

  
  

• Demonstrate cross-cutting impact and long-term value. 

  
  

How Intelligens Consulting can help 

Intelligens Consulting has a proven track record supporting councils and partners to design, fund, and deliver digital inclusion and smart-service innovation. We can help you: 

✅ Shape a Winning Proposal – Develop compelling CivTech submissions grounded in citizen need and measurable outcomes. 

✅ Design & Deploy Pilot Projects – Combine AI, IoT, and digital infrastructure to deliver scalable inclusion programmes. 

✅ Integrate Across Services – Connect local systems (health, housing, social care) into seamless citizen experiences. 

✅ Evaluate Impact – Measure uptake, cost savings, and inclusion outcomes to build the case for wider roll-out. 

Contact us on info@intelligensconsulting.com to discuss how we can help your organisation participate in CivTech 11 Challenge 9 and create inclusive, accessible digital services for everyone. 

📩 Contact us to future-proof your digital investment plans. 

Email: info@intelligensconsulting.com | Website: www.intelligensconsulting.com