Technology ecosystem review - Towards the Tipping Point: progress report

2. Infrastructure

Funding social infrastructure

Technology ecosystems depend on social infrastructure to propagate best practice by facilitating start-up education, networking and peer-support. Vibrant communities which exchange ideas, learn from each other and collaborate play an integral part in building an ecosystem that removes barriers to access and opportunity and is open to everyone.

That is why, we launched the £1 million Ecosystem Fund in October 2021, to support the community elements of the Scottish tech ecosystem, helping to create the best possible learning environment for technology start-ups to grow and succeed.

Applications were open to proposals which would support tech meet-ups, events and broader activities to assist with education, networking, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas.

The ecosystem responded to the fund with great enthusiasm. Over 100 applications were received and, while it was an extremely challenging selection process due to the quality of applications, we were delighted to offer over 30 projects grant funding.

Projects funded include:

• Visits to Silicon Valley, delivered by FutureX and Startup Grind Scotland. This exposed cohorts of Scottish start-up founders to international investors.
• An event at the London Stock Exchange, delivered by The Bayes Centre’s EIE Team, showcasing Scotland’s start-ups to London-based investors and enablers,
• A 10-week programme, delivered by Female Founder Squad, to encourage more women into tech and help them create start-ups,
• Scottish Games Week, delivered by Scottish Games Network, to showcase and promote the incredible work being carried out across Scotland’s rapidly evolving and diverse games ecosystem. This has connected industry and academia, to Esports, applied games and showcased the transformative power of games technologies for our creative future, and
• Mint Ventures’ ‘Increasing Access to Capital for Women’ project, designed to educate more women in Scotland to become angel investors using genderspecific learning techniques to build confidence.

The Ecosystem Fund received positive feedback from many across the tech community. Demand surpassed expectations and we have been able to demonstrate value for money through investment which might otherwise not have been made.

Lessons taken from our experience in operating the fund include the need to think more carefully about how we can reach and support smaller-scale organisations, how to maximise impact amongst ecosystem builders offering similar activities, and how to utilise funding to address barriers to entry and opportunity.

Ecosystem Fund recipient case study: Startup Grind

On 9 April 2022, the Startup Grind Scotland team travelled to Silicon Valley with 20 of Scotland’s tech entrepreneurs. There, we were immersed in the entrepreneurial mecca: visiting leading global tech companies Nvidia and UserTesting, learning about the Silicon Valley mentality at venture-backed Alchemist Accelerator, and connecting with fellow founders at Startup Grind Global’s Conference. Alongside our partner SDI, the final night saw our cohort pitch at Werqwise in central San Francisco to a packed room of 50+ US-based investors.

We developed this experience, with Mark Logan’s STER vision in mind: to see Scotland take its place as a global tech hub. To contribute to this vision, we created a programme focused on building peer connections, accessing a global community, supporting learning about international opportunities, and raising Scotland’s profile as a world-class technology ecosystem.

We are delighted to report that this trip exceeded our wildest expectations. At a glance:

• We received 178 applications from Scottish founders from diverse walks of life across 26 locations
• Our cohort created over 62 new investor connections
• Our message was published in 20 articles with a UK-wide reach
• 60% of delegates were confident in their business’ success before the trip; now, 93% are.

Founders on the trip said:

“Holoxica’s visibility and credibility was boosted massively in Scotland and internationally. Through the trip, we connected with a prominent US-based Global Scot who acts as a mentor and helps us to develop visibility, and connections in Space Tech and Defence.” – Wendy Lamin, MD, Holixica

“A huge win for TZAR! was our new relationship with Metaplex, an NFT partner for the major blockchain provider, Solana. Without that relationship, I couldn’t have had such high-level access to Web 3.0 capabilities.” – Tzaritsa Asante, Founder, TZARI

“Hard to provide a full account of the extent of the learning I experienced on the trip but I can say for sure that it was life-changing. It had such a positive effect on me and my business that I travelled back out a couple of weeks later to follow up on some leads and to make some new contacts which are likely to be game-changers for us.” – Allan Cannon, Krucial (formerly R3-IOT)

Ecosystem Fund recipient case study: Startup Grind – continued

Startup Grind Scotland is operated by a passionate group that volunteers their evenings and weekends. This funding not only allowed for the Silicon Valley Programme to take place, but also for our team to take an active role in supporting Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to connect further with Silicon Valley, cross-pollinating insights and learning across the Atlantic Ocean.

We firmly believe that more programmes of this kind will only serve to connect Scotland’s tech ecosystem worldwide, reinforcing learning and creating feedback loops across our local and national hubs. Matching the Valley’s ambition with Scotland’s high-impact mindset will be critical to cementing Scotland on the global stage - but our entrepreneurs can’t do it alone. We are immensely grateful to the Scottish Government for making this trip a reality: our mission now is to continue collaborating across our ecosystem and beyond to elevate, educate and inspire our founders and show the world what Scotland has to offer.

Following the success of the Silicon Valley programme, the Scottish Government has now funded Startup Grind to take 10 tech founders to the Slush conference in Helsinki in November. Labelled “The World’s Best Startup Event”, the select founders will have the opportunity to network with over 4,000 startups and over 2,000 investors.

The overarching aim of the programme remains the same – to broaden experience for our founders so they can connect and learn from international best practice.

Our new national TechScaler network

In July 2022, First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy announced our national TechScaler network, delivered by CodeBase and backed by £42 million of funding, to support Scottish start-ups with world-class commercial education, mentoring and a vibrant peer community.

Opening for business from November 2022, TechScaler will offer opportunities for startups to co-locate in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling.

Hubs will be delivered in partnership with universities, local authorities and businesses - for example, in Glasgow, there will be a hub based at the new Barclays campus beside the River Clyde.

STER recognises that not enough businesses in Scotland possess the ‘start-up skillset’ (sometimes referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley Playbook’), and that a lack of these essential skills is one of the root issues which is preventing our tech ecosystem from reaching its tipping-point.

That is why our TechScaler network will offer, free of charge, cutting edge education on the key principles of successfully scaling up internet economy businesses to any and all tech start-ups in Scotland that want it.

The TechScaler programme will be delivered in partnership with world-leading organisations such as Reforge, Silicon Valley’s most prestigious education programme for tech scale-ups.

Courses will be offered to companies at different stages of development – from individuals thinking of founding a start-up, to larger businesses close to achieving competitive advantage and scale.

Education will also be provided on business essentials such as:

• Business operations,
• People leadership,
• Technical leadership, and
• Technology strategy development.

TechScaler is an investment not just in physical infrastructure and facilities but in people – the single most important factor in the success of any business venture.

TechScaler will also develop a national calendar of events, to harness and foster the sense of community already present across our tech sector in Scotland.

This is part of our ecosystem’s ‘market square’ – meaning physical, in-person or online spaces in which communities, founders and entrepreneurs can come together, to learn from each other while enjoying meet-ups, events and other activities.

Working with our enterprise agencies

We know we will only transform our ecosystem by working across government, public sector, academia and industry to deliver on the recommendations in STER.

Our enterprise agencies have been actively engaged in the implementation of the recommendations, ensuring that activities delivered align with our goal to reach the post-tipping point state.

Like other agencies, when the STER report was published, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) was delivering emergency funds to clients and organisations across its region - including a digital enablement grant that highlighted significant demand for accelerated adoption of technologies and related skills.

Following the announcement of our national TechScaler network, HIE has been in discussions with TechScaler service provider, CodeBase, on an operating model for the Highlands and Islands, which will ensure TechScaler support and programmes are available to businesses and enterprises all over Scotland, including in our most remote and rural areas.

South of Scotland Enterprise has been developing an Entrepreneurial Roadmap to help build a pipeline of potential enterprises for scale-up. This support is not specific to any particular sector or industry and will help local enterprises and entrepreneurs engage with sectoral, regional and national programmes – including the TechScaler hub planned for Dumfries.

Scottish Enterprise has established a 5-year national programme in response to STER. Digital Scale-up Level-up aims to significantly improve the quality and quantity of digital tech scale-up businesses in Scotland with a specific focus on increasing digital innovation in Scotland’s regions. The programme is working with stakeholders to establish regional digital tech action plans, developing market opportunities in FinTech and Climate Tech, encouraging international digital talent attraction and helping to internationalise digital tech conferences.

Next Steps

• Launching the National Network of TechScalers from November 2022
• Further policy development on the physical and social infrastructure identified in STER