Cluster Experiments for Technology in Tourism: Scotland’s Story

In 2020, Traveltech for Scotland, a cluster for technology and tourism businesses in Scotland was founded. Joshua will reflect on the last two years of building a tech focused community in tourism. Navigating the development of the cluster during such uncertain times for the industry has necessitated at experimental approach. Joshua will explain its successes, things that didn’t quite work out, and what’s next for the community in its third year.

Joshua is the Director of Traveltech for Scotland, a business cluster organisation getting behind Scotland’s Traveltech pioneers. He is also the Director of Tourism-Tech at the University of Edinburgh’s Futures Institute, where he leads the application of data-driven innovation for the tourism and festival sectors. He previously worked at The Data Lab, leading programmes to improve data science skills across Scotland. He joined from Nesta where he established the £10m Longitude Prize, which featured on BBC Horizon’s 50th Anniversary Episode. Before joining Nesta in October 2013, Joshua worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina developing and delivering projects related to constitutional reform and reconciliation