Spotlight placed on brave new world
HOW SCOTLAND WORKS BBC2, 9pm
THERE was a time when your parents might have advised you to seek a career in medicine or the law. Many, of course, counsel their offspring along these lines today. Just don’t expect Jamie Coleman to be too impressed.
Coleman is managing director of CodeBase, an Edinburgh operation that is the UK’s largest technology incubator.
“What we’re building here are the new businesses – they are the new ways of working,” he tells the camera in the opening episode of this three-part series.
“When your mammy told you that you should be a doctor or a lawyer – those days are over,” he says flatly. “The growth and the jobs and the amazing new stuff is here.”
CodeBase has transformed a onceempty 1960s office block into a thriving space for promising young companies. “What I’m interested in,” he says, “is helping to build, grow and really properly scale the next billion-dollar tech companies.”
How Scotland Works takes a fresh look at the country in the 21st century, from new thinking on Scots’ working lives, to the standing of its international “brand” and the growing and diverse population.
As tonight’s opener makes clear, a new industrial revolution is transforming jobs, businesses – and creating a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Scotland is fast becoming a global force in computing. The digital industries employ some 70,000 Scots. Companies such as Edinburgh-based RockStar North are making Scotland a world leader in computer games. The latest edition of its groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto game made $1bn in just three days.
Another success story (also based in Edinburgh, as it turns out), is Skyscanner, a leading global travel search site.
The site was officially launched in 2003: in 2013, the business was valued at £500 million. It now has offices in China, the US and elsewhere, and is, the programme says, on course to become Scotland’s first billion-pound tech business.
Tonight’s episode looks at the impact of innovation in all sorts of fields, including farming. And some interesting, old-tech figures emerge – Scotland grows over one million tonnes of potatoes every year.