£4m funding unveiled to catalyse new Scots firms
● Aim to create 5 tech hubs and 300 start-ups by 2025 ● Kate Forbes calls for action to attract women into sector
Working in the tech sector is “not just a boy’s job,” Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has insisted, as she announced £4 million of government cash aimed at helping create the next generation of Scottish start-ups.
The initial funding to cre - ate five technology hubs was announced yesterday by Forbes on a visit to the CodeBase technology incubator in Edinburgh, and will invest in critical infrastructure, enabling the hubs to give entre - preneurs “world-class” training and mentoring alongside the chance to network and share ideas.
The aim is to support at least 300 start-ups by 2025. The five hubs, announced in response tote ch entrepreneur and former chief operating officer of travel site Skyscanner Mark Logan’s review of the sector, will be known as tech scalers.
The Scottish Government is also setting up an Ecosystem Fund to make strategic investments in the sector and plans to create a formal tie-up with the technology industry to progress Logan’s longer-term recommendations.
Forbes said :“These hubs will transform the quality and intensity of support available to Scottish start-ups, delivering world-class education to tech entrepreneurs, helping this vital sector to grow and create jobs. They will also offer the chance to net work and share ideas, laying the ground work for Scotland’ s digital future.”
Speaking ahead of her visit to Codebase, she said the tech sector will be “so critical to our economic recover y” as Scotland moves out of the Covid-19 pandemic. She said: “We know that tech is going to be one of the fast-growing sectors in Scotland – it has got the potential to create thousands of jobs and power the economy.”
Forbes stressed the importance of “extra-curricular support to enthuse young people and inspire them, to recognise it is not just a boy’s job, that there is a rebalancing of the gender difference”.
The Finance Secretary also said :“The point here is the greater volume of star t-ups you have ultimately the more successful businesses you have. We want to see that high level of growth from start-ups through to highly successful, viable international companies, and that is where the jobs are created.”
Also commenting was Jane Morrison-ross, chief executive of S cotlandis, who said: “Scotland has a proud heritage of techs tar t-ups, and we need this cohesive strategy and leadership to maximise the nation’s potential in digital technology.”
She added: “The creation of these new tech scaler hubs creates the perfect opportunity to create a genuinely inclusive approach to techno logy across Scotland. We need these hubs based throughout Scotland to enable remote and rural economies to thrive in a digital world.”