REVIEW: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
36 INSIDER March 2020 http://www.insider.co.uk
breaking innovations but says that is
changing.
“In the last decade, we have seen
an increase in commercialisation
activities, investment in university
start-ups and an increasing
entrepreneurial culture within the
academic community,” she argues.
“With hundreds of early-stage
start-ups active in Scotland, and with
Scottish businesses like Skyscanner
breaking through to large-scale
success, the environment is changing.
“Partly due to the city and region
deals and partly to Scotland’s
ambition and increased awareness
of its potential, more universities
have become the hotbed for
entrepreneurship as well as research.”
Cavalluzzo argues that against the
Brexit backdrop, greater collaboration
across the sector is vital. “Everyone
recognises the value of cross-border
science projects and without these, the
UK and Scotland will lose out. More
than ever, Scotland needs to unite
to remain a relevant, innovative and
competitive economy.”
Carina Healy, a life sciences
specialist at law firm CMS, says
Scotland’s strong reputation for
clinical studies and for supporting
innovative and cutting-edge start-ups
“create huge potential opportunities”.
But she also warns the sector
currently faces significant challenges.
“A survey we carried out recently
showed 60 per cent of respondents
reporting an increase in turnover
over the past year. However,
many companies also gave strong
indications that profits were being
squeezed and we found concerns
about Brexit and its potential impact
on EU market access and recruitment
across the sector.”
In science and technology sectors
which are undergoing sustained
growth, outstripping the wider
economy, skills shortages continue to
be a significant concern.
Derek Gibb, sales director at
Edinburgh-based technology
recruitment firm Net Talent, says
demand for staff right across the
sector in Scotland is booming. “As a
whole, salary levels are increasing and
in specific areas, such as data science,
the increase has been phenomenal –
in some instances showing a salary
level on a par with London,” he
reports. He says firms – particularly
smaller companies without large
recruitment budgets – have to be
more creative about their approach
to finding highly skilled staff by
developing more a attractive working
environment and conditions.
Lindsay McGranaghan, head of
Scotland for IT firm CGI which
employs more than 500 people
across offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh,
the Borders and Aberdeen, says
candidates in the sector now behave
like consumers when it comes tomaking the next step in their career.
“Money is often not the key driver in
professionals making a move but the
content of the work, the impact it has
on society and working conditions
are far more important.”
McGranaghan says the phrase
“war on talent” has been on the lips
of sector recruiters for years. “But the
truth is, there is no war – the talent
won quite some time ago. There is
no shortage of jobs but there is a
shortage of candidates that shows
no sign of keeping up with the
exponential growth the tech sector
is enjoying.”
Dermot Murray, a vice-president
at Aberdeen-headquartered cloud
solutions provider Inoapps, says that
a greater focus to address the skills
shortage is vital if Scotland is to reap
the benefits of what he sees as an
immense opportunity.
“Industry projections from
technology trade body ScotlandIS
suggest there’s an annual requirement
for an additional 13,000 digital jobs
in Scotland but currently we only
produce around 5,000 new recruits
annually through universities,
colleges or apprenticeships.”
He highlights initiatives such as
dressCode, a free schools programme
which promotes STEM to girls, and
the F1 in Schools science competition
as examples of the positive
approaches being taken to make
careers in the sector more attractive.
“But we need far more investment
from both government and industry
to further develop digital skills and
ensure Scotland’s technology sector
will thrive,” says Murray.
Brian Corcoran, who came to
Scotland in 2010 to launch a software
start-up and went on to co-found
the hugely successful Turing Fest
technology conference, believes there
is much to do for the sector across
skills, ensuring access to investment
and scaling-up of companies. But
he believes Scotland is in a strong
position to kick on with sea-change
under way.
“We’re seeing more Scottish
businesses reach the milestones that
create a virtuous circle: talent and
capital returning to the ecosystem
to launch new ventures, ambition
skyrocketing and learning cycles
shortening,” he says. ■We need far more investment from
both government and industry to
further develop digital skills and
ensure Scotland’s technology sector
will thrive Dermot Murray, Inoapps (above)
Claudia CavalluzzoPaul Winstanley