Chris Boyland is the Scottish Government’s Head of AI & Digital Growth with responsibility for delivering the Government’s commitment to establish AI Scotland, a new national transformation programme which will harness the power of AI to drive net-positive economic growth. He also led work to develop the new AI Strategy for Scotland, published 2026. This builds on the 2021 AI Strategy produced by the Scottish Government in partnership with The Data Lab, and sets out actions to harness the opportunities of AI for Scotland and create a globally competitive AI ecosystem. Chris has worked for the Scottish Government for more than fifteen years, covering policy areas such as debt advice, social security and digital economy. He returned to government, to take on his current role after two years on secondment as Vice-President: Regional Engagement with Codebase, the UK’s largest start-up incubator.
