Bruce B.

📣 Inviting Expressions of Interest The East of England SDE welcomes proposals for data projects that: ✅ Use de-identified NHS data from the region ✅ Need secure space for 'BYO data' ✅ Reuse public datasets We look forward to supporting your research. #SupportingResearch #PoweredByData

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Today was a HUGE day for 🇬🇧 tech! Why? ⏳ These announcements have been in the works for months - this is not just a rushed job, but a sign of deep commitment from global tech companies to the UK - and a testament to the hard work of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology 🌟 Nscale has shown itself to be a new British tech success story - few companies can regularly partner with the likes of OpenAI, NVIDIA and Microsoft on major strategic investments, not just in the UK but also in Norway. 🌎 The UK is showing off as a tier 1 investment destination - at a time of enormous competition between countries for AI investments the UK is building a compelling mix of international investment, alongside a strong start-up ecosystem. Both are needed to build a strong, attractive tech sector. A forest has trees of many sizes - always push back at those who say you have to have local at the expense of global. You need both. 📈 The numbers speak for themselves - £30bn + of investments and tens of thousands of new GPUs will hit British shores. Recent research from Public First for NVIDIA has show that these investments drive national as as well local growth, with the return on investment coming in five years. A genuine economic boost! Huge congratulations to the teams at Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Nscale and as well Scale AI, Oracle, CoreWeave, PayPal, techUK and others who will all have been working furiously behind the scenes today. 👉 BBC reporting - https://lnkd.in/eZAt-cKM 👉 Public First research - https://lnkd.in/ehz76gRa

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We've published a major update to Nesta's Best Start in Life microsite, building on the support we’re providing to local authorities as they develop their strategic plans. https://lnkd.in/ei9eiKxn This new release is all about moving from analysis to action. In the updated playbook, people working in local authorities can now access: * New guidance on prioritisation: Content focused on helping identify core services and the system enablers that make them work. * A dedicated Local Plan template: A practical tool to help summarise and capture the local plan as you work through the playbook. * An integrated experience: We’ve improved the ‘Context and diagnosis’ section by pulling local authority data directly into the playbook. * Expanded data sets: New insights on Healthy Start uptake, EYFSP learning outcomes, and ASQ-3 coverage. We've tried to make this as pragmatic and user-friendly as possible. But there's plenty of room for improvement and feedback is greatly appreciated, please reach out!

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We're leaving £63 billion on the table. That's the annual cost of the UK's digital skills gap, according to DSIT research published in December 2024. We have a skills crisis. And we're systematically excluding huge talent pools: •Only 9% of tech workers come from lower socio-economic backgrounds  •Just 2% of VC funding goes to female and ethnic minority-led businesses  •92% of angel investment went to all-white teams in 2022  •Black women represent 0.07% of the tech workforce The economic case is clear - companies in the bottom quartile for diversity are 66% less likely to outperform financially. But the report's most striking finding isn't about the business case. It's about the action gap: •89% of companies collect diversity data. •Only 35% actually do anything with it. We're measuring the problem while both the economic and human cost compounds. The report identifies what works: transparent career frameworks, accountability tied to leadership performance, flexible working as standard - not exception. Not one-off initiatives. Systemic change. Full report: https://lnkd.in/eunW3CFf #DiversityInTech #UKTech #DigitalSkills #TechLeadership #Inclusion #PublicSector

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Over the past week, I attended a "Big Data does GitHub" event hosted by Digital Health and Care Wales. There were some really useful demos and discussions. Two discussions stood out to me most, one by colleagues from Public Health Wales on how they collaborate using GitHub, and another with a focus on GitHub Copilot. In the Copilot discussion one point that stuck with me was the shift in where time is actually spent: less on writing implementation line-by-line, and more on defining the problem clearly and validating that what's been produced does what was intended. I realised afterwards that I don't know what level of access I have to these tools in work at the moment. Rather than wait to find out (a job for next week!), I signed up for a Copilot trial on my personal GitHub and pointed it towards a project I've been circling for months. That project had completely stalled when it was just me, I hadn't been motivated to spend my free time on it in that way. With just a few days effort, I've now got a solid working prototype. More interestingly, the way I've been working is completely different, I've spent much more time spent being explicit about what I want, and then checking the output, refining it, and adjusting course in response to seeing the results. Much less time has been spent grinding through the implementation itself. It's important to know that I really enjoy the implementing in general, but this process hasn't left me feeling disconnected from that. I've been able to make architectural decisions, and see the plans followed quickly, without it taking so long that changing course later feels too risky. It's not magic, and it's definitely not hands-off, but it does change the shape of the work in a way that feels useful, and productive. Still early days for me learning how to use the tech, but it's been a good reminder that sometimes progress isn't always about pushing harder, sometimes it's about changing how you approach the problem. It was really interesting to hear from other colleagues in the wider NHS Wales team that are already using this tech day-to-day, and I'd love to hear about the experiences of others in this space.

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In the lead up to Small Business Saturday, we're sharing more about our work at Department for Business and Trade launching an Export Support AI chatbot on business.gov.uk and learning from our users, read more from Kai Hellström on our blog https://lnkd.in/eM_bZpkm

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Digital inclusion is a key foundation of the Tees Valley Digital Strategy and Tees Valley Combined Authority are proud to be part of this coalition with Good Things Foundation and 5 other UK regions to work together to help close the UK's digital divide. #digitalinclusion #digitaldivide

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Following on from her recent blog post about why QA can’t be an afterthought in public sector migrations, Harriet takes the conversation a step further. Harriet explores how discovery workshops, data profiling, and exploratory testing uncover hidden edge cases before they disrupt migrations. She also shares how synthetic datasets, scenario modelling, and flexible automation help teams safely test even the most unusual workflows. The result? Public sector systems that are resilient, predictable, and ready for anything - even under the most unusual conditions. Read Harriet’s full insights on navigating the untestable: https://lnkd.in/eq3GBr9U #EdgeCases #PublicSector #SystemMigrations

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I’m pleased to share the ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council Cohorts Review 2024–25, which evaluates the UK’s national cohort studies—MCS, BCS70, NCDS, and Next Steps—and reflects on how to maintain and enhance their contribution to research, policy, and society.    Informed by sector-wide engagement, the review reaffirms the unique and lasting impact of the cohort studies. For decades, these rich longitudinal datasets have shaped public policy, improved services, and enabled pioneering cross-disciplinary research. Their depth, rigour, and scope make them unrivalled tools for understanding and driving change.    Looking ahead, ESRC remains committed to supporting the cohort portfolio. Earlier this year, we launched Generation New Era (GNE), the UK’s newest birth cohort. Building on the success of preceding studies, GNE represents an important step toward a stable, integrated portfolio that can be delivered sustainably over the long term.    Sustainability was a central consideration of the review, with a focus on what can realistically be achieved within available resources. A key outcome is the introduction of new cohorts roughly every 25 years, supporting the study of generational change while concentrating resources on large, well-powered studies. Although this approach may create gaps in early-life data, ESRC will explore opportunities to coordinate future investments with other funders. The review has also guided the future direction for existing studies. Following careful consideration of Next Steps and its role within the life-course portfolio, ESRC has made the difficult decision to not commit new funding for further active data collection once CLS’ current funding concludes. Next Steps remains a valued resource, and ESRC will continue to work closely with CLS to safeguard its legacy through data linkage, integration, and ongoing accessibility. Many thanks to ESRC colleagues and all the contributors to the review. For full details on the review’s findings and actions, access the publication here: https://lnkd.in/e_Pa5EhD UK Research and Innovation 

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