Could Scotland be on the cusp of establishing this small but smart nation into a fully-fledged North European commercial gateway, one fit for the Digital Age?
We’re already attracting significant overseas investment and engaged in a free flow of high levels of business activity, with ambition more than matched by the latest cluster of technologically-based innovations. Clever ideas reinforcing our reputation for sheer ingenuity just requiring to be combined with business opportunity. After all, Scotland is geographically positioned catching the eye of the United States and rest of the global north along with elsewhere on the planet.
Let’s call it ‘Digital Glen’. This is consistent with Scotland’s previous electronics-based halcyon days, when Silicon Glen practically ruled the semiconductor arena outside California’s Silicon Valley, before the collapse of the high-tech global economy in 2000. Today, an international charm offensive involving targeted business and cultural engagement is well underway.
Lately, it has taken Nicola Sturgeon to Washington DC and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), to press home Scotland’s unequalled position as the country responsible for a long list of inventions. These include penicillin, steam engine, television, telephone, and Dolly the Sheep. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Scotland was a leading industrial centre with a global reach, and is now positioning itself as an international hub for these modern digital times.
Sturgeon was forced to defend the US trip, pointing out to Holyrood ministers that promoting Scotland around the globe was ‘part of the job’. The pandemic, climate crisis and Russia’s war with Ukraine have all strengthened the imperative for international co-operation and concerted action in equal measures.
DC’s renowned global economics think tank, the Brookings Institution, heard that Scotland was ‘acutely aware’ of its strategic position on the northern edge of Europe. In the wake of COP26 Glasgow, it must be all about how it accelerates its transition to a new, lower carbon economy. Wind already provides the cheapest power in Scotland’s energy mix, plus very significant reserves of wave, hydro and tidal power. Just as Scotland led the world into the industrial age, it now has an obligation to help the planet into the net zero age and position itself as a testbed for clean energy.
It’s well worth dwelling on green technologies. Renewable energy currently accounts for almost 100% of Scotland’s gross electricity consumption, representing around one third of the country’s overall energy demand. It has already more than halved the country’s greenhouse gas emissions from its 1990 baseline, cutting such emissions more quickly than any other country in the G20. Scotland is also home to the world’s largest floating windfarm. The nation is on its way to become the most reliable and lowest-cost hydrogen producer in Europe, while contributing to international energy security and working with allies across the globe to build a fairer and more sustainable world.
At an Engage Invest Exploit (EIE) London Innovation & Investment Showcase, Scotland’s burgeoning position as the gateway to global investment and finance was seen to be strengthened. EIE is supported by the devolved government’s ecosystem fund in connection with the Scottish Technology Ecosystem 2020 Review. A snapshot of the current crop of tech-led early-stage enterprises, engaged in the EIE Readiness Programme, indicates an emphasis on high-tech start-ups, revealing that Scotland is way up there when it comes to developments in clean tech, robotics, electric vehicles (EV), agile diagnostics, mental well-being and stem cell.
Bennu.ai has developed what it calls ‘the smartest bin in the world’, to increase recycling rates by over 40%, estimating that each bin could save airports, train stations and other companies over £30,000 within 15 years. Danu Robotics has created a ‘speedy and accurate’ automated recycling sorting system that can reduce contamination rates as high as 50% to below 1%, while saving on operating costs ranging from 30-100%. Scrapp aims to simplify household recycling by a green tech barcode scanning system, removing the barriers that stop users making informed disposal decisions.
Bioliberty’s LifeGlov is a robotic exoskelton glove helping the wearer to grip, accompanied by a digital therapy platform to develop natural hand strength, enabling sufferers of hand weakness to take control of their rehabilitation from the comfort of their home. Energy Mutual aims to standardise the management of an estimated one million distributed energy generators throughout the UK, from rooftop photovoltaic (PV) semiconducting light into electricity conversion to sub-5MW hydropower systems. Vahanomy aims to accelerate the rollout of EV charging data through a dedicated intel tool.
Microplate Dx is an agile diagnostics spinout for the rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) of bacterial and fungal infections. Ocean Biofuels grows and harvests sugar kelp seaweed to produce biomethane and eventually bioethanol. Pogo Studio aims to significantly improve the often lack of clear communications within the NHS between clinician and patient. Roslin Technologies is leading the field in providing animal stem cells to cultivated meat producers. Securium has created a cyber test analysis targeting intelligence gathering system aimed at preventing online harm. Â
Backing up all of these novel enterprises is a new independent think tank, the Scottish Council on Global Affairs, led by the three universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews, with endorsement from both the Scottish and Westminster governments. An aim is to forge new partnerships in the UK, Europe and beyond, and amplify the global reach of Scottish expertise, prompting Roddy Gow, chair of the Asia Scotland Institute, to sum up: ‘Our future lies beyond our shores’.
Former Reuters, Sunday Times, The Scotsman and Glasgow Herald business and finance correspondent, Bill Magee is a columnist writing tech-based articles for Daily Business, Institute of Directors, Edinburgh Chamber and occasionally The Times’ ‘Thunderer’