Events

Holyrood Connect’s flagship annual cyber security conference, Public Sector Cyber Security Scotland, will return to Edinburgh on 1 February 2024.

In the weeks leading up to Cyber Scotland Week 2024, the event will act as the premier opportunity for public sector cyber security professionals to connect in person, exchange ideas, and learn from each other.

Through keynote addresses, panel discussions and interactive masterclasses, delegates will gain insight into:

• How to achieve a digitally secure and resilient Scotland
• Bridging the cyber security skills gap
• How to spot and prevent cyber attacks
• Emerging technologies and how they can benefit organisations
• How to future-proof organisations’ security

You will also have the opportunity to pose questions to our expert speakers during the Q&A portions of sessions.

Public Sector Cyber Security Scotland 2024 will also feature an exhibition, providing an opportunity for delegates to explore relevant solutions for their organisations.

This event is free-to-attend for those working in the public or third sectors. If you work in the private sector, please email eventsadmin@holyrood.com to be added to our waiting list.

The Space Suppliers Summit is an international business convention connecting buyers and suppliers from across the space manufacturing sector.

Now into its second edition, the convention is an opportunity for companies to showcase their unique capabilities, share insights and ideas, and create new networks through targeted business meetings and a high-level conference.

The two-day event will consist of a dedicated conference programme investigating new trends, developments and challenges across the space manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure from a business and industry technology perspective.

The second day features our signature one-to-one pre-scheduled business meetings between participants in the exhibition. The meetings will provide you with a tailored programme to meet selected companies in a well-organised format that lets you focus on your meetings, while we take care of the logistics.

The UK Department for Business and Trade’s FPS team, in partnership with PWC SA, invites you to join this third session of the Digitisation series.

This webinar will focus on Cyber Resilience – the ability to anticipate, withstand, recover and adapt to cyber threats in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

In the previous webinars, we explored how Digitisation and Digital Products are transforming the African economy, especially in the areas of digital payments, e-commerce and fintech. We also discussed how Responsible AI can enable sustainable and inclusive growth, while addressing the ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence.

However, as we embrace the opportunities of digital transformation and innovation, we also face new and complex challenges in securing our digital assets and ensuring trust and accountability. This is compounded by the requirement to ensure data privacy where required. Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, sophisticated and damaging, affecting businesses, governments and individuals alike. How can we protect ourselves and our organisations from these threats? Based on our own experiences, our rapid digital growth and our regulatory requirements to protect, what are the best practices and standards for implementing cybersecurity in the African context? How can we leverage the latest technologies and solutions to enhance our cyber resilience and ensure trust in the digital age?

These are some of the questions that we will explore in this webinar, with the help of our expert speakers and panellists. We will also share the key findings of our 2023 Global Digital Trust Insights survey, which reveals the state of cybersecurity on the African continent and the emerging trends and opportunities for improvement.”

The confirmed speakers will include:

Junaid Amra – Partner in the Consulting & Risk division of PwC South Africa where he is leading the Forensics Technology Services practice. In his role he assists clients with electronic investigations, incident response and providing support to investigation teams where electronic devices or big data form part of the investigation.

Hamil Bhoora – Partner in PWC’s cybersecurity practice responsible for managing a team of cyber professionals.

Kamil Reddy – Experienced privacy professional for over 15 years. He has experience both as a consultant providing advice and in more hands-on roles having lead privacy functions at multi-national organisations, including those with an African footprint.

We’re excited to embark on this journey to new horizons with you.

FarrPoint’s connectivity survey is back this year, and after talking to dozens of local and combined authority digital teams across England, Wales and Scotland, we are about to launch our second report. The 2024 survey primarily focused on connectivity priorities and barries within UK local authority areas, but also explored the role of digital champions, digital adoption and smart technologies. In the new report, we are comparing year on year results and drawing common themes across the UK.

We invited four of the survey respondents to talk more about their views on this panel.

Join ScotlandIS and CyberSafe Scotland this Safer Internet Day for a candid discussion on Online Safety for children.

Safer Internet Day is held every February in over 170 different countries. The goal of Safer Internet Day is to call on people across the world to work together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, but especially for young people. In the UK, the UK Safer Internet Centre run a campaign especially for the day which aims to start a national conversation about using technology safely and positively.  

In this informal online session, we’ll explore practical approaches to engage with your kids around staying safe online. Your perspective is vital in navigating the complexities of the digital landscape. Be part of the conversation, share your insights, learn more, and contribute to fostering a safer online environment. Your involvement matters in shaping a more secure digital future for our children.

Join us and play a role in the dialogue this Safer Internet Day.

About CyberSafe Scotland

Cybersafe Scotland provide support for children and young people with online safety, through their multi-agency team – and targeted support where children have experienced online harassment and abuse. Listening to the children and understanding their experiences online, before developing the tools to help them, is at the heart of their work. They are excited to share parts of their learning and add your voices to the conversation. 

Some of us might be used to working with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), but it’s often a struggle to connect the achievements of reaching the OKRs and hitting the KPIs with our own personal growth – be that growth within our career progression aspirations, or in achieving that deeper sense of intrinsic motivation in terms of understanding our value at a personal level.

“Impact” really is the essential addition to make that connection.

In this talk, Dan Ashby will present a “Career Impact Framework” that has been developed over the past 6 years. He will share stories and examples of various situations of this framework in use and how it’s helped overcome morale challenges, supported people get extrinsic rewards such as promotions, assisted with overcoming behavioral “gamed-growth” situations, and ultimately helped people “grow” in their careers.

All meetings, unless otherwise stated, are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm at Skyscanner Limited, Quartermile One, 15 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9EN.(Note that Skyscanner will require you to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for entry to their offices).

Refreshments are available from 6:00 pm.

All meetings are free of charge and non members are welcome to all meetings. Please register via the Eventbrite link given for each meeting.

Our meetings qualify for BCS CPD credit.

Join Scottish Enterprise on 20th February at 3pm (BST) for part two of our digital series on the application of smart technologies in buildings and support available for your company.

As government and industry partner to achieve net zero by 2050, opportunities to develop the digital framework to underpin a smart, flexible energy sector emerge. The energy sector of the future will comprise millions of assets ranging from solar panels to heat pumps, with smart technologies in between. These technologies will play a crucial role in optimising operations and reducing energy consumption and costs by visualising real time energy consumption, tapping into demand side response to shift electricity use at peak times and access the lowest energy prices.

Confirmed speakers:

• Jennifer Low from Scottish Development International
• Brian O’Reilly from EGG Lighting
• Glyn Mountford from Mabbett
• Rachel McCaw from Scottish Enterprise

Join us at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on 21 and 22 February 2024 for Holyrood Connect’s 13th annual Digital Health and Care conference.

Bringing together health, social care and housing professionals from across the country, the event will look at how digital solutions are being used to help alleviate pressures on the NHS and social care systems by improving care delivery and demand management.

As always, the flagship conference promises to explore the most exciting developments taking place across the digital landscape, including the creation of a ‘digital front door’ and implementation of Scotland’s first Data Strategy for health and social care.

We are pleased to be developing the agenda with input from our advisory group:

• Dr Margaret Whoriskey, Head of Technology Enabled Care and Digital Healthcare Innovation at the Scottish Government
• Professor George Crooks, Chief Executive of the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre
• Alyson Scurfield, Chief Executive of TSA
• Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care

Digital Health and Care 2023

All sessions from our 2023 event are now available to watch on-demand here.

You can find all the photos from the conference and awards on our Flickr.

Based on your feedback we’re going to be kicking off our series of marketing meetups for 2024 by holding our first marketing forum. Rather than having an invited speaker, we’re inviting you to submit a question or topic you would like to discuss and get feedback on. Then as a group we can share our thoughts, experiences and expertise on your topic.

Topics can include:

• Does social media work in a B2B marketplace?
• How do you generate sales from marketing?
• What’s the most effective way to generate new business? 
• Does digital marketing work in a B2B market?
• What trends do we need to look out for this year?

As ever this is a safe and confidential space where we can discuss what did or did not work for us in 2023, and what new plans and strategies we have for 2024. This is a great opportunity for us to pull all our experience and knowledge together to ensure 2024 is a successful year. 

Limited places are available, so make sure to secure your place now below!

*This event is for ScotlandIS members only*

ScotlandIS Marketing Meetups are kindly sponsored by Uniq Sales & Marketing.

ScotlandIS Marketing Meetups are now CPD certified! Gain hours towards your CPD qualifications by coming to our events.

Are you a cybersecurity start-up who is interested in learning how you can navigate the complex landscape of regulations and cyber risk management?

Join Plexal as part of their Cyber Runway Regional events, supported by ScotlandIS, as expert speakers discuss the intricacies of global data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, gaining insights into compliance requirements tailored specifically for start-ups.

What’s more we will also help with demystify the world of cyber insurance—from policy evaluation to risk assessment and navigating legal intricacies during the claims process. Uncover the key factors influencing cyber insurance policies, the role of risk assessments, and the legal landscape surrounding insurance claims.

The day will be filled of insightful talks, interactive sessions, and networking opportunities.

Taking place during CyberScotland Week at Abertay cyberQuarter, from 10:30am until 5:00pm, the full agenda will be announced shortly.

About Cyber Runway:

Cyber Runway, funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), is the UK’s largest cyber security accelerator. We work with founders from idea to scale up to fast-track their growth. Over the past two years we’ve supported nearly 200 companies and helped them launch products, raise funding and secure pilots.

Come along to the latest Scotland Women in Cyber meetup as part of Cyber Scotland Week 2024.

The event will take the form of a networking drinks session, directly following on from Plexal’s Cyber Runway: Dundee event for Cyber Scotland Week.

Cyber Runway will run from 10:30am till 5pm, with expert speakers offering insights into the intricacies of global data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, and other compliance requirements tailored specifically for start-ups. The Scotland Women in Cyber networking will then run from 5pm – 7pm.

So join us at Abertay cyberQuarter on 26th Feb to engage with a like-minded cyber community and exchange knowledge and ideas.