GLASGOW’S burgeoning tech sector is continuing to grow, with tech companies in the city attracting a combined £100 million in private investment this year. That’s up from £43m in 2020, itself a 153% increase from 2019, according to the latest figures.
The digital sector in Glasgow now employs just under 34,000 people with major international tech firms such as Siemens, Dell, Cisco and SAS making the city their base, with a focus on data science, research and development, and customer intelligence.
Smaller growing companies based in Glasgow include cloud software company Bellrock Technology, online sports betting company FanDuel and flight comparison website Skyscanner.
Global finance firm JPMorgan Chase will soon open its Northern European Hub in the city – a £400m project housing the company’s technology and an extensive redevelopment of the Met Tower as an office and co-working space is underway in the city. A portion of the building is expected to host several companies from across the tech space, creating a hive of innovation.
Helping the growth is the strong tie the Glasgow tech space has with the academic community.
Glasgow City Innovation District – Scotland’s first – unites some of Scotland’s leading tech businesses and supports them with access to resources that promote acceleration and growth.
Adam McGeoch, associate economist at the Fraser of Allander Institute, said: “Collaboration between government, industry, and academia plays an important role in driving innovation and growth, and the tech scene in Glasgow, one of the UK’s hubs for technology, benefits from its ties to world class universities and research.
“Scotland’s digital sector has been a key driver of inward investment in recent years, and the sector has continued to grow despite the unprecedented challenges brought by the pandemic in 2020.”
However, David Hendry, Glasgow Caledonian University senior lecturer in the Department of Cyber Security and Networks, said a skills and gender gap in the sector still needed to be addressed.
“It is clearly evident that the tech sector in Glasgow is expanding at a rapid rate with a number of
key tech firms and a growing fintech sector, with organisations such as Barclays and JPMorgan adopting the city as its hub,” he said.
“These organisations are here for a reason, they are here to tap into the abundant talent that the city’s academic institutions produce.
“That said, we still have a skills and gender gap that needs to be addressed through further investment.
“For example, here at GCU we recently delivered a ‘Women do Cyber Programme’, in partnership with Cisco and Scottish Women in Technology.
“This programme should prepare these students for the tech job market and is aimed at addressing the gender gap in the sector.
“There are more and more tech and digital companies in Glasgow providing a focal point for entrepreneurs, their teams and investors to come together to collaborate. It has helped to amplify the expertise and capability we have here, which means businesses will have the scalability to grow.”
Loral Quinn is chief executive officer at CodeClan, Scotland’s first not-for-profit “digital bootcamp”.
The organisation provides immersive training in tech skills over 14 to 16 weeks, and often offers career support as well. The training model is designed to make graduates industry-ready.
Quinn said: “Recent industry reports, including Savilles’ and Tech Nation’s, have consistently found that Glasgow is one of the top tech cities in the UK outside London, with investment increasing through 2021 and again in 2022, with venture capital raised increasing by 281% this year, according to Savilles.
“But digital skills are critical for managing that growth, and that’s where CodeClan can make an impact.
“Regarding Scotland as a whole, The Logan Report said Scotland could create a ‘world-class’ technology sector and called for more opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn from their peers and more experienced businesspeople. CodeClan is on that trajectory as a participant in the TechScalers programme, and as a scaling business, we want to play our part in that success.”
Creative Industries, including digital, are identified as a growth sector by the Scottish Government.
The latest data highlights that Creative Industries, including digital, and Life Sciences were the only two growth sectors that actually experienced growth in 2020.
The EY attractiveness survey also saw Scotland’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) performance improve significantly in the latest year. Digital technology was the country’s leading sector, with 33 FDI projects. Projects in this industry rose by 74% in 2021 across Scotland.
Over the same period, digital technology projects fell by 7% in Europe and rose by just 7% in the UK. Scotland is now the top location for digital projects anywhere in the UK after London.
