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The UK is celebrating everything about science, technology, engineering and maths as part of British Science Week.
Recognising the potential of modern technology to address some of the UK’s biggest social challenges faced in the UK, Comic Relief launched its Tech for Good programme almost a year ago.
It supports not-for-profit organisations to run innovative digital projects to achieve their goals and tackle issues in new ways.
The six projects involved in the new funding are now starting to use technology to increase the impact of the work that they do.
They range from Safety Nets, an app developed by charity National Ugly Mugs to help keep sex workers safe on the streets, to audio navigation tool Wayfindr which has been created by the Royal London Society for Blind People to help people who are visually impaired to navigate London’s public transport system.
Andy Murphy is Chief Executive of Age UK Islington, a project which received Tech for Good funding to develop its data technology to help volunteers to identify vulnerable elderly people earlier and ensure they get the help they need.
He said: “This is something we’ve been working on for a long time and scratching our heads about how we can develop the capability and capacity to reach out to a far larger number of people over a longer period.
“We knew there was a technology solution somewhere and the Tech for Good project has helped us to build that up much faster than we could have done otherwise. Not just with the technical skills but surrounding system development skills and the other range of experts that the programme has brought together.”
Other projects that have received funding included HullCoin’s project to harness technology to reward socially valuable activity with discounts in local businesses, advocacy support charity SeAp’s app to support people with disabilities navigate through the benefits process and Relate National’s online family dispute resolution service.
Find out more(opens in new window) about our Tech for Good projects.
