Cosmic leads new digital inclusion and employability work across Cornwall and the South West

Digital inclusion champion Cosmic is delivering a series of new projects across Cornwall and the wider South West after partners Good Things Foundation and FutureDotNow secured funding from the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund. These projects aim to better understand digital exclusion, strengthen community insight, and support people to gain the skills they need to find and stay in work.

Working in partnership with Good Things Foundation and supporting Cornwall Council, Cosmic has delivered resident engagement events in Redruth and Truro, giving local people the opportunity to share their experiences and shape future digital inclusion services. Through workshops and interviews, the project is gathering firsthand insight into the barriers residents face when accessing digital services and skills. Cosmic is also cofacilitating cross sector workshops to explore how digital inclusion can be embedded more effectively into services across Cornwall.

Alongside this, Cosmic is playing a major delivery role in a separate innovation pilot led by FutureDotNow and supported by Accenture in the wider South West. This pilot is integrating the new AI enhanced Essential Digital Skills Framework into the Restart employability programme, gathering employer insights, and will produce a practical Toolkit to help other regions adopt similar approaches. The learning generated through this work will position the South West as a trailblazer region, creating a replicable model that advances digital inclusion and employability ambitions nationally.

The updated curriculum was launched by Cosmic in December and will continue until March, supporting people in Truro, Bodmin, St Austell, Launceston, Plymouth, Exeter, Torbay, Bridgwater, Weston-Super-Mare, Swindon, Trowbridge, Salisbury and Bristol.

Cosmic CEO, Julie Hawker said: “We’re really pleased to be working closely with Good Things Foundation and FutureDotNow on these projects. Digital inclusion is about more than skills - it’s about confidence, opportunity and fairness. As a social enterprise, our purpose is to support people and communities to move forward positively, and these programmes help us do exactly that. From hearing people’s lived experiences in Cornwall to contributing to innovative work across the South West, we’re committed to creating digital pathways that genuinely improve people’s lives. And importantly, the learning and tools we’re helping develop here won’t just benefit our region — they have the potential to influence practice and strengthen digital inclusion efforts right across the UK.”

For more information visit www.cosmic.org.uk/