ScotlandIS CEO, Polly Purvis, has been named as the Local Hero of 2019 at Engage Invest Exploit 2019 Dinner which was held in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on Wednesday 23rd April.
For many years Polly has been instrumental in the growth of the tech sector and has already been recognised with lifetime achievement awards and OBE for her services to industry. She’s been credited for her work in the creation of the Skills Investment Plan; a strategy developed to create a strong and continuing supply of skills for the tech sector, underlining its crucial importance to the Scottish economy, which led to the creation of CodeClan and the Digital Xtra Fund.
In the last 18 months she has led the formation of the Digital Skills Partnership, an ambitious ScotlandIS initiative, supported by SDS and SFC, bringing together industry, colleges and universities to build industry-relevant curriculum materials and empower students with exposure to up to date working practices.
Frances Sneddon, Chair of ScotlandIS said
“Polly has been the silent partner of the Scottish tech sector. She has lobbied government tirelessly on our behalf resulting in the Skills Development Plan of 2014 and CodeClan. She was instrumental in the set up of The Data Lab and the Digital Xtra Fund, I could go on and on with the endless initiatives which have fuelled our sector that Polly has driven. She is an inspiration. Our sector will be forever indebted to her.
Beyond that she is amazingly compassionate and has supported the ScotlandIS team, our members and every person in the tech sector in Scotland. I heard someone recently describe her “as the mother of the Scottish tech sector” I think that sums up perfectly the important role Polly has played to so many.”
We are all thrilled that Polly has been recognised once again for her contribution to the industry and thank all at EIE for the accolade.