Edinburgh’s Path to a Tech-Driven Future

Edinburgh’s Path to a Tech-Driven Future

So happy to have the priviledge to comment in Business Comment this month for my home city.

Here’s the text:

To me, the city of Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful and cultured cities in the world, along with being one of the most educated — as measured by the percentage of graduates who live and work here. The city, too, is enterprising and the home to a growing number of technology-related companies. But, overall, it is highly dependent on its economic base of finance, education and health care.

A core part of the city’s success has thus been its base in the finance sector, and we need to build on this base to grow the companies that will scale into the future. This must involve bringing together experience from a range of backgrounds and collaborators, in order to move innovative companies forward.

For this, FinTech Scotland is now playing a core role and enabling the collaboration between existing finance companies, innovators and researchers. But the ecosystem in the city does not stop there, as organisations like Scottish Enterprise, Interface Online and the Innovation Centres (such as The Data Lab) are playing a key role in bringing forward collaborations and new spin-out companies. There is real passion now for technology-driven innovation brought to the fore by people like former Skyscanner COO, Professor Mark Logan.

For us at Edinburgh Napier University, perhaps, our three successful spin-outs (Zonefox, Symphonic and Cyacomb) may not have been so successful in any other city in the world. This is due to the support provided by Scottish Enterprise and in the partnerships developing across the city.

But, for all its beauty, the city must be cyber resilient, too, and support companies that can cope with cyber threats. Luckily, our finance sector has been building advanced cybersecurity teams, and which have seen
the growth of companies like SecureWorks, Adarma, and Quorum Cyber.

While Edinburgh has a core understanding of the world of finance, it needs to look to the future, including the move towards a tokenbased
economy, which relates to our existing fiat currency approaches, and in building more trusted finance systems. As part of this, we have set up the Blockpass ID Lab in the University, and which is growing a research base around identity, privacy and building trusted digital systems.

This is already bringing forward two new forthcoming spin-out companies: True Deploy and Lasting Asset, with others set to follow them. Again, it is the city’s infrastructure and the likes of Scottish Enterprise which enables the transition from research work to companies which address real-life problems.

I adored this city from the second I saw it, and I still adore it. It has helped us in every possible way, and I believe our research and innovation have the best opportunities possible to be help it thrive. It is a city of collaboration, enterprise and partnership, and can truly take its place on a world stage and support the innovators of our future.

We must retain and attract the best possible talent from around the world, and make the city their home.