We’ve been so excited to share the outcome of our Tech for Good Bristol & Bath project with you all – and the wait is finally over!
Last Friday we officially launched the Tech for Good Bristol and Bath microsite & open dataset, designed and developed by Rocketmakers in partnership with TechSPARK, at the Bristol Technology Festival for 65 community members. Hopefully, our expert panel got you inspired to delve deeper into the world of Tech for Good with us.
Recognising the key Tech for Good makers & shakers
Since its founding, Rocketmakers has always promoted using technology to make the world a better place – a concept which has come to be known as “Tech for Good.”
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As the Bristol & Bath tech cluster has grown, they have done our best to help support the significant number of Tech for Good companies and support companies which have emerged onto the scene. That number is now so significant, just keeping track of everyone became difficult. Rocketmakers Marketing & Scaleup Lead, Briony Phillips, asked our design team for help – and boy did they deliver!
The outcome is the Tech for Good Bristol and Bath microsite. It features 170 Tech for Good companies and support companies from the region, with another 60 to be added in November.
The site landing page has two main views – Tech For Good, and Support – and allows users to zoom in to central Bristol and central Bath where multiple map pins are clustered. Each pin comes with a profile and contact details, and each business is also listed alphabetically on a separate listing page.
Converting a dry dataset into a visually stunning, interactive web app is never an easy task, and the Rocketmakers design team really outdid themselves.
The clean, classic design features a brilliantly clever logo conceived by Rocketmakers lead designer John Grigg. Composed of a capital “B,” a heart, a map, and a map pin, it neatly captures the essence of a Tech for Good map application.
There are also 12 bespoke icons for the various categories of featured companies, primary and secondary colour palettes, a bespoke font (evoking the Swiss minimalism of the London tube map), and style guides for creating both digital and print versions Tech for Good Bristol and Bath maps.
An idea was born
In the Summer of 2021, Briony noticed a sudden flurry of people investigating the key players in Tech for Good in Bristol and Bath.
People were interested in the support ecosystem, and in the businesses working towards NetZero, Zero Carbon, Tech for Good, Green Tech. So, that prompted an action research project.
The idea for the microsite arose after Briony began to struggle to keep track of all theses companies in the region.
“I started with a simple document,” she explains, “but it wasn’t long before I had to create a database to keep track of everything. But even that wasn’t enough as I really wanted this information to be available to the public – not just for me.
“We recently got the chance to share the site for the first time at an event I hosted for TechSPARK, and the reaction was fantastic. The fintech and legaltech sectors in Bristol attract attention because of the revenue they generate, but it is really important that the Tech for Good sector gets its share of the limelight as well. With this amazing design from John and his team, we’ve made a major step in that direction.”
So, there are lots of resources for you to get stuck into. Check out the website here, explore the open dataset here, join the broader Tech for Good SW Community.
For this project, we identify ‘Tech for Good’ as a community of people, projects, and organisations utilising technology to improve social, environmental and economic outcomes and doing so in a way that is collaborative and user-led.
There is a long-standing network of support for Tech for Good in the South West who are running a series of events in October, find out more about them and join their community here.
