As the Chair of the Board at ScotlandIS I am tasked with our annual address. As the content has generated a lot of comment I wanted to post it here to reach a wider audience. Feel free to get in touch to discuss any of these thoughts further – I love to hear how different businesses are finding the Scottish technology ecosystem.
ScotSoft Address
[Evening welcome and thanks to ScotSoft attendees, speakers and sponsors…]
I’m Andrew Williams, I’ve been a founder, advisor and investor in many tech startup companies over the last 15 years across Scotland and California. I would like to take a few minutes to speak to you about Scotland’s role as a global leader in technology advancement.
As chair of the board it is traditional for me to reflect on the year that has past. However on this special occasion of ScotlandIS’ 25th anniversary I wanted to continue the theme of looking further back and think “What an incredible quarter century it’s been”!
When ScotlandIS was founded in the year 2000 only a quarter of Scottish households had internet access!
IT was front and centre as we had just got over the globally feared millennium bug!
There was no iPhone, nor any Android, in fact mobile phones were mostly a matrix of buttons with a small LCD black-on-green display…
It’s fair to say that ubiquitous technology today would have seemed like the stuff of science fiction 25 years ago.
State of the Industry
And what a journey it’s been over that time – despite many challenges we’ve seen absolutely massive growth in the Scottish tech sector. The ScotlandIS industry survey shows that we have grown to an economic contribution around £7bn and employ 90’000 people! That’s the size of a small country and yet it’s multiples of the equivalent GDP.
My thanks and congratulations go to those who did the hard work and late nights to make this possible – many of these stars are here tonight!
As you will probably see from the Sottish Innovation Week and the summit earlier today there is a tremendous vibrancy to our ecosystem and many amazing initiatives. I just love to see the enthusiasm of people taking their experience into schools and up-skilling programmes, participating in panels and showcases around their passions and coming together as a community to celebrate the wins and start tackling the next big thing. So a huge thanks to Scottish Government, their delivery partners and supporters around the country.
We are a country of inventors that have given the world Dolly the Sheep and Electric blankets, we pioneered the Telephone, Television and the ATM. And, rather more recently, Scotland is exporting amazing products and expertise in the areas of travel-tech, health-tech, fintech and climate tech solutions to name a few. And of course the digital know-how to throw world class festivals!
Challenges
However, we still have some work ahead of us!
25 years ago we were thankfully over the mad rush of the millennium bug. Sadly that meant recruitment of computer science graduates dropped to an all time low. There have been ups and downs over the years but the job market remains challenging. We are largely seeing demand for recruits exceeding the supply right now, and yet it can be a difficult ladder to get a foot on.
It’s fair to say that technology is an industry of hype cycles and bubbles. Be it “.com”, “blockchain” or “AI” it can be hard to know where to invest our time and money. After a few dry years finance appears to be flowing again – but be cautious of the report headlines. Most funds are focussing primarily on their existing portfolio. The risk profile of our finance industry is currently far from embracing early stage innovation. If funding does not back these new businesses we will lose them to oversees opportunities.
[Thanks to the sponsors that made the evening possible]
The technological prowess and inventiveness of our nation is well known – but how do we stack up right now? The global stage has changed and when it becomes so crowded it is hard to be noticed never mind to emerge as a leader.
Given that much of the pioneering AI research has happened right here in Edinburgh over the last 60 years it would be a tremendous shame if we were left behind by the work that is accelerating forward in the Valley and elsewhere.
How we win
But we have shown many times before that we can deliver on the global stage – to be leaders and trail-blazers. The secret to winning of course is that we do this together! The Scottish technology ecosystem is a fantastic place to be. Somewhere that everyone is connected and wants to help. There is a shared awareness that when someone wins we all win.
Collaboration is all around us – for example, the government support available for business. Whether you are early stage, expanding or delivering at scale there are programmes of aid and finance that you can call on. In education the ongoing work with Schools and Universities is excellent. I’d like to highlight two ScotlandIS initiatives – 1 the Digital Critical Friends programme getting industry experts to enhance the schools offering. And 2, the Founders Hub where tech startup founders can find their tribe in the Edinburgh University Bayes Centre.
Across the board we see the Scottish tech ecosystem and its partnerships striving for success. And of course I know that ScotlandIS will be right here at the centre for another 25 years. Making connections and providing support – being the voice of our community and lobbying Government so we continue to pull in the same direction as we march into the future!
Looking Ahead
It’s been a tremendous two and a half decades, a lot has been survived but so much more has been achieved. Look back over that time and think of all that has happened – what our community and the people in this room have delivered!
And then consider, as the pace of innovation continues what can we imagine may be possible between here and the year 2050!?
Will we get those flying cars or hover boards? Who knows. But universal access to technology and data? – we can make that happen! Most likely smart devices will develop to the point where our brains can connect directly to a central network or super intelligence. I believe that the amazing teams right here in Scotland can be central to delivering life changing technology to the world.
Like I indicated last year [ScotSoft 2024 Closing Address] our relatively small size gives us a huge advantage – we are large enough to do great things but small enough that we are one community. The fact we can know and support each other is our super power – so let’s harness that and continue to lead global innovations.
Thanks to everyone who was at ScotSoft or the Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards dinner where this speech was presented. Please do reach out if you would like to provide feedback or discuss this topic!
Andy.xyz 