ScotlandIS welcome the 34 recommendations made today in the Logan Report. The recommendations outlined in this report will help Scotland realise our ambitions of being a digitally leading and inclusive nation. ScotlandIS are strong advocates of partnership and collaboration, we are delighted to see these two key strands throughout the report. Moving forward, we must see a closer relationship between government and the tech sector to ensure these recommendations are implemented.
Our start up community in Scotland is rich and diverse in its nature. There remains a risk that any upcoming Scottish tech industry leader may be lost to the likes of London or Silicon Valley, if Scotland do not foster the right environment for the start up community and executive leadership. ScotlandIS are passionate about the commercialisation and e-commerce of our talent, products and research here in Scotland. In order for this potential to be realised, we must see closer links between academia and industry to foster such innovation and creativity. ScotlandIS already foster such links with industry and higher education through our NPA fundamentals course and our E Placement Scotland programme. Therefore, we support the Logan Recommendation which targets industry partnership for summer placements for computing science students.
We particularly welcome the “regional aspect” of the Tech-Scaler Strategy. Scotland is a small country and we have the potential to punch above our weight, but we must ensure that inward investment is evenly distributed across our vibrant cities, towns and communities. It is pleasing to see the reference to the Scottish Investment Bank which has innovation and clean growth across Scotland at its core. The nature and cost of transport and travel in Scotland can be challenging as the Logan report highlights, but with the growing use of virtual meetings, virtual events, then perhaps this barrier will no longer be prohibitive to start-ups in Scotland wishing to expand to London. ScotlandIS are involved in regular calls with DCMS and partners across the UK. Scotland’s start up community may find new business and customers in thriving hubs such as Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Belfast.
ScotlandIS are passionate about a multinational tech sector in Scotland. To do so, we need continued access to EU and International talent. Therefore, we strongly welcome the Scotland Tech Visa recommendation. We would urge Scottish Government to take this recommendation to the UK Government with the aim of increasing Scotland’s competitiveness in the global tech market. The Scottish tech sector already has a talent vacuum and the implementation of a Scotland Tech Visa would allow for highly skilled and highly paid jobs to enter the Scottish economy.
As always, ScotlandIS stand ready to work in partnership with industry, academia and government to drive inclusive economic growth across all regions in Scotland.