A few updates from myself and the wider team here at ScotlandIS on our latest Research and Policy activity in the last 6 weeks.
In September, we listened to our members and responded on behalf of them with regards to the Scottish Parliament lobbying register, ScotlandIS are fully compliant with the Scottish Parliament register and we support the ongoing transparency that it ensures.
On the 9th of September I met with the Minister of Trade, Investment and Innovation, Mr Ivan McKee to discuss the future of freeports in Scotland and what that means for the digital and tech sector in Scotland. ScotlandIS are passionate about internationalisation and the benefits that can bring to our thriving sector. We continue to engage on this subject and welcome any insights and comments from our members on the potential freeports could bring to the digital and tech sector, or the risks that may be involved in establishing them.
On the 15th of September, we were delighted to hold a roundtable on Migration Policy alongside Sarah Kyambi, Founder, Migration Policy Scotland and Jacqueline Moore, Director of Immigration, Shepherd and Wedderburn. Prior to this webinar, we met with the UK Home Office to discuss the changes to the new points based system and visa requirements and delighted to see that “start ups” were included as part of the exemptions, something which ScotlandIS had been calling for quite some time.
We were delighted to also launch our Diversity and Inclusion Committee which builds on some of our existing work and passion for diversity and inclusion across the whole tech sector. As part of this group, we aim to provide government and the sector with a series of recommendations to help increase diversity and inclusion practices across the workplace. We are always open to ideas and suggestions from our members and I would be delighted to hear your thoughts on how we address these issues moving forward to continue the ongoing prosperity of the sector.
We were delighted to host a roundtable with the Procurement team at the Scottish Government looking at the possibilities procurement opportunities can unlock for Scotland’s SME community. As part of this ongoing series on procurement, we will be hosting a member to member procurement session which will be released in due course.
ScotlandIS will be responding to the Scottish Government’s digital ambition strategy and we would love to hear from our members. I will be releasing some questions and details on responding to this consultation early next week and I look forward to your responses then.
At ScotlandIS we are here to support and keep our members informed with some of the largest challenges that may come their way. The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union is only a few months away and we want to make sure the digital and tech sector are as prepared as they can be. In the coming weeks we will release details on new guidance, webinars and roundtables that we will be hosting on themes ranging from data adequacy agreements, immigration, trade, GDPR and much more. We are working closely with both UK and Scottish Government to ensure the digital and tech sector remains a vibrant part of the economy moving forward.
As always, if you would like to engage in our ongoing research, policy and public affairs activity, then please do not hesitate to get in contact with myself at marc.strathie@scotlandis.com