Kicking off innovation: Scottish and UAE pupils to tackle women's football participation with tech

Secondary pupils from across Scotland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being invited to design digital solutions that could help inspire more girls and women into football, challenge stereotypes, and promote healthier lifestyles.

The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI) has teamed up with the Scottish Women’s football team for this year’s DigiInventors Challenge.

Fresh from a summer of record-breaking attendances at the Women’s Euros and headline-making sponsorship deals, the global innovation challenge aims to maintain the momentum of the women’s game, with the hope that pupils will bring fresh ideas that combine a passion for sport with the power of technology.

The success of DigiInventors since its creation in 2017 has resulted in the foundation of a parallel competition running across the UAE. Now in its ninth year, the competition has engaged nearly 2,700 young people.

This year’s participants will undertake a new programme of classroom teaching, access to a range of digital resources and, if shortlisted, take part in a two-day entrepreneurial bootcamp featuring business mentors and leading entrepreneurs. The finalists will then pitch their ideas to expert judges in a live-streamed final in December, with the winning teams taking home top tech prizes and national recognition.

Grant Reilly, DigiInventors project lead at DHI, said:

“Sport and exercise generally have the power to transform communities and play a massive role in improving people’s physical and mental wellbeing. We want to tap into the excitement around women’s football and use it to spark digital ideas that can break barriers and make the game more inclusive.

“The overall focus of the challenge is to empower and inspire young people to learn entrepreneurial, digital, design innovation and STEM skills while exploring potential career opportunities in the digital health and social care sector.”

A recent report by the Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Advisory Board found that across all age groups, boys are more likely to participate in organised sports such as football. However, female participation in football in Scotland is at an all-time high and there is a national strategic aim to increase the total number of registered female players to 25,000 by the end of 2025.

The report emphasises the importance of media and digital assets in normalising women's football and shaping public perceptions, which can directly influence participation levels, but there is evidence that negative aspects, such as social media abuse, can have a detrimental impact on mental health and the willingness of women and girls to participate.

Vivienne MacLaren, Chair of Scottish Women’s Football, which oversees more than 700 teams and runs over 70 competitions nationwide, said:

“As well as growing the game across Scotland and providing girls and women at all ages and stages with the opportunity to play football, it is also key that we educate and inform as best we can to ensure our players are physically and mentally healthy. Being able to be part of DigiInventors and combine raising awareness of our game with digital technology is a perfect partnership and we very much look forward to the ideas that the young people will have.

“Girls face additional challenges not only in taking up sport and physical activity but in staying involved as they get older, so ideas on how to best engage them are very much welcomed.”

For more information or to take part, visit the DigiInventors website.