The Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint is a collaboratively designed strategy for our city region, helping local decision-makers understand what to prioritise, where and with whom, when it comes to making the best of digital technology.
The current strategy runs from 2023 to 2026, and a lot has changed since it was developed, so Open Data Manchester has been commissioned to help update it by learning how digital is shaping our region from the people who live here. The new Blueprint is expected to be published in the new year and will take the city region through to 2030.
We know that digital technology is transforming many aspects of our lives, so we initially ran a series of sessions with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) team where we unpicked what they already knew and where more insight was needed. We also ran a stakeholder mapping session so we could identify the right people and organisations to include, thinking about who understands these issues and how we could include a wide range of voices.
Based on this work, we delivered three participatory workshops on the broad themes of:
- The digital sector, growth and skills
- Equity and empowerment
- Public services that are digitally enabled and data driven
These first workshops helped us uncover areas that needed more focus and identify groups who might be missing. Based on these findings, we have just facilitated three more workshops on the more specific themes of:
- Growing the digital infrastructure we need
- Supporting safe and strong communities in an online world
- Growing the skills for a digital economy
We’ve also been mapping the opportunities and crossovers found within strategies developed by other organisations, and we’ll be using this strategy map and the insights gathered to begin drafting the new Blueprint with the GMCA team.
Help us with the next step of the Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint
Before we deliver our insights report, we wanted to share what we have learned with the wider community of people interested in how digital technology is shaping our region and gather your thoughts on the themes that have emerged.
So we are running an online event on Tuesday 20 October at 7pm to discuss what we know so far and give you the chance to tell us what you think. We’ll also let you know what is happening next with the Blueprint.
We’re hugely grateful to the many people who have lent their time to this work already. Whether you’ve been involved, or not, if you’re interested in how digital technology is shaping Greater Manchester, we’d love to see you there. Get your free ticket here.
Feel free to get in touch with Mat at ODM if you have any questions about this project or want to learn more about this area of our work.