The first ever Glasgow Tech Week will take place next week to celebrate the innovative work taking place across the city’s tech, digital and creative ecosystem.
Edinburgh as a city has historically been better at shouting about its success stories in the tech sector, so this event feels like a tipping moment for Glasgow.
It’s the first week-long event of this type in Scotland and its introduction is a bold but welcome new addition for the city.
It demonstrates the momentum building in the tech sector in Glasgow and provides a real focal point for everyone in the industry to collaborate and discuss ideas.
Organisers chose to make it a week-long event following the success of Glasgow Tech Fest, a day-long yearly conference which launched in 2022.
Glasgow Tech Week will bring together founders, and tech leaders from Glasgow and beyond, with breakfast seminars, educational workshops and networking events taking place across the city from May 13-17.
One of the real strengths of our sector in Glasgow is how we look out for each other, and I know several of my clients at Johnson Carmichael have a real passion for supporting new talent in the industry to give them a step up.
In general, it’s a tough time for so many industries just now, with interest rates still high and companies tightening their purse strings, and firms often finding it difficult to close deals and raise funds in the current climate. It emerged this week that plans to redevelop the city’s Met Tower as a digital tech hub have been cancelled, which reflects how challenging a time it is but there’s still a lot to be positive about in our sector.
Data released by Dealroom and HSBC Innovation Banking in October last year revealed Glasgow is the second-fastest-growing area in the UK for venture capital (VC) investment, with venture capital received by firms in Glasgow growing by 211% since 2019.
The enterprise value of the Glasgow City Region Tech Ecosystem currently stands at £3.4 billion; that’s an 89% rise since 2018. Glasgow-based universities have featured twice in the UK’s top 20 for most spinouts, and Glasgow University spin-out Chemify raised £36 million last year to progress its efforts to “digitise chemistry”. JP Morgan have just opened up a new office in the city, and a recent sector survey from ScotlandIS found that almost 80 per cent of the Scottish tech sector is optimistic about the year ahead.
Glasgow-founded digital pharmacy startup Phlo, a client of our firm, recently secured a £9m investment round, while another Glasgow-based tech company we work with, Kingdom Technologies ,has raised over £3m in recent funding rounds. These successes aren’t happening by chance.
Outside of London and Cambridge, Glasgow is one of the best places to start up a company and our skill base from the city’s universities and colleges plays a vital part in that.
Having a real pinnacle event for our city – and showing to ourselves and outside investors that this is a sector we should be rallying behind, is hugely important.
The key now is to keep thinking bigger and I’m confident that Glasgow Tech Week will continue to thrive in the years ahead.
Neil Wilson is business advisory partner at Johnston Carmichael
Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk
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