News
Why Scotland must address the key scale-up challenges
Dr Yvonne Davies says we are good at creating start-ups but could do more to help companies take the next big step
Scotland has so much to celebrate when it comes to entrepreneurship across multiple sectors. Within industry, universities, business support networks and innovation centres up and down the land, we are producing exciting technologies and world-class science along with ambitious founders.
Source: The Scotsman
SNIB tightens exposure to risk but broadens targets
Scotland’s state-owned development bank is tightening its exposure to risk by backing companies with an established growth record and a clear market advantage in their sector.
David Ritchie, who was installed as chief executive of the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) in January, has also revealed he will broaden the range of companies it is targeting.
Source: Scottish Financial News
Scotland’s scaleups being held back by £25m glass ceiling
Scotland risks losing high-growth companies overseas unless it addresses a widening gap in later-stage capital and skills, industry leaders have warned.
At an industrial strategy roundtable in Glasgow, investors, manufacturers and public agencies agreed that while Scotland performs strongly in spinouts and early-stage funding, the transition to scale remains the system’s weakest link.
Source: The Scotsman
Growth target: Can Scotland's life sciences sector hit £25bn by 2035?
By its own measure, Scotland’s life sciences sector is an overachiever. Leaders hoped it would reach a turnover of £8bn by 2025. Reaching that target, set in 2017, meant doubling the value of the sector within just eight years, driving growth in everything from drug development to agriculture.
Source: Holyrood
Scottish biotechnology centre achieves 300 member milestone ahead of major event
Scotland’s Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) has seen its membership surge to more than 300 after welcoming around 100 new members to its network in 2024.
Industry leaders said the growth reflected the health of Scotland’s bio-economy, with start-ups Vaste and Seastex recently joining IBioIC and helping to push its network past the milestone figure.
Source: The Scotsman
Supporting women-led businesses is an ‘economic imperative’ – Forbes
Supporting women-led businesses is an “economic imperative”, Kate Forbes is expected to say in speech in Edinburgh today.
The Deputy First Minister is addressing a Pathways Pledge event – a gathering of organisations signed up to tech entrepreneur Ana Stewart’s Pathways Forward initiative, which aims to help remove barriers facing women in enterprise.
Source: Business Insider
New stats prove Scotland punching above its weight with 1,663 tech start-ups
Scotland has bucked the trend as technology company incorporations jumped 5 per cent last year, despite a similar slowdown at the UK level, new figures have revealed.
The data shows a total of 1,663 new tech businesses were incorporated in Scotland in 2024, up from 1,553 the previous year.
Source: The Scotsman