A high turnout of IT SMEs is expected at Scotland's first Startup Weekend in Glasgow next month where mentors will advise how to build proof-of-concepts and demo products. The country is also on the digital offensive with a brand new strategy, which includes the focus of recruiting the right skills. By Helen Beckett [Published 04/08/2010]
Organisers of the start-up weekend, sponsored by Glasgow Caledonian University, expect to attract more than 100 hopefuls to the 48-hour start-up event, with most of the business ideas expected to come from the IT sector.
Joe O'Brien, co-founder of software company Edge Case and organiser of the event, said, "The start-up scene in Scotland remains buoyant, despite the financial turbulence of recent years, and we are still seeing a steady flow of great IT products and services brought to market."
Scotland has an IT workforce of around 48,000 but IT and digital is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, according to Scottish Enterprise. It contributes £3.4 billion to the gross value add (GVA) - around five per cent - but this has grown by almost 80% in the last ten years.
Digital spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise, Ruth Andrew, said the new digital strategy aims to leverage the country’s strengths. “We have one of the best education systems, and perhaps in the world; but we need to ensuring that we are developing the best skills for the IT industry”, she said.
The Scottish IT Industry Strategy document confirms the need to hire and convert talent to IT purposes. “There is a wealth of technical talent in the Scottish IT market, and yet the industry faces a long-term skills supply shortage that could hamper its ability to reach its full potential, due to the decline in domestic uptake of academic IT courses”.
Scotland has outgrown its Silicon Glen hub origins, which was the product of a concentration of electronic manufacturing in the Stirling region back in the 80’s. Today, the region’s IT is vital and dispersed in pockets of excellence everywhere, from gaming and content management in Dundee, for example, to small technology companies literally in the middle of nowhere.
"Finance is strong here – we are the number two financial hub behind London”, Andrews affirms, while the country’s leading position in other industries has also opened up IT opportunities. Textiles and chemicals are advanced and there is need for niche and specialised IT to support them.
Scotland’s digital media facts
- The digital media and software sectors in Scotland employ over 42,000 people in over 5000 companies (2006)
- Companies in these sectors have a combined turnover of £3.16 billion per annum (2006)
- Between 2005 and 2007, Scottish-based digital media businesses secured thirty five investments with a total value of £21.8m
- One of the world’s most successful games, Grand Theft Auto, is produced by Rockstar North in Edinburgh. The most recent edition, Grand Theft Auto IV, in its first week sold approximately 6 million copies worldwide and grossed over $500 million
- The sector has a GVA per employee of £65,291 (2005)
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