Social Tech Trust is a charity supporting Tech Startups championing social good in the UK. They have provided over £30 million and supported more than 750 social tech ventures since they were founded in 2008.
Some of STT’s recent projects include helping people to transform their neighbourhoods, supporting Bristol-based Open Bionics on developing 3D printed bionic hands, and helping older people unlock their creative potential.
“This organisation has got a very clear vision: a world where social transformation is the driving force behind tech,” says Ed Evans, the company’s current CEO.
Though the Trust currently supports social tech ventures at the early, startup, stage, this is set to change as the Trust begins looking for deeper collaboration, across the public, private and social sector.
One company the Trust has begun working with is Feebris, a company that allows populations to measure different health indicators, then submits them to a platform where it can be analysed. This vast amount of data can then be used to increase understanding of the different risk factors for various illnesses and which populations are most affected.
Thought the tool is currently being used in Mumbai, the Trust is examining how it might be adapted for UK populations.
Another of the companies they’re working with is Piclo, which “simply enables local energy to be matched to local demand”. The platform works within the current system. “But ultimately it’s aiming to make the energy system more transparent and sustainable, and create a more transformative change,” says Evans.
Their recent Tech to Unite Us funding round was “really looking at balance of power between people in communities, how they access opportunities, causes, health outcomes, community engagement, to apply those key lenses across that area,” according to Evans.
He says although the UK obviously boasts a vibrant and flourishing tech scene he believes there’s massive unfulfilled potential for social tech.
