Scotland’s Technology Council has published its first report, outlining an ambitious roadmap to establish the country as a global leader in technology by 2035.

Established in May 2025, the non-statutory advisory body was tasked with guiding Scotland’s tech-driven economic ambitions. Its inaugural report – Vision 2035: Scotland’s Next Horizon – sets out a long-term strategy focused on scaling innovation, attracting investment, and addressing structural barriers that have historically constrained growth.

“Scotland’s technology sector is already an important economic asset and its continuing innovation and evolution on the global stage present future opportunities,” said business minister Richard Lochhead.

“The Scottish Government established the Technology Council to harness valuable insight and expertise from industry leaders to help seize these opportunities. I am grateful to the Council for its recommendations, which will be for the next administration to consider.”

The Council frames the coming decade as a critical period for Scotland, as global competition intensifies and technological change accelerates. Drawing on expertise from across industry, academia, and government, the group has assessed the country’s strengths while identifying the systemic challenges limiting its progress.

Scotland is described as having a strong foundation for innovation, supported by globally recognised universities, a highly trusted and integrated NHS, and established leadership in sectors such as clean energy and fintech. Emerging capabilities in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, semiconductors, photonics, and space are also highlighted as areas of growing strength.

Collectively, these assets position Scotland to compete in what the report describes as the “next wave of global innovation”.

Persistent barriers to growth

Despite these advantages, the Council identifies a set of structural challenges that risk holding Scotland back. Chief among them are talent and leadership gaps, particularly a shortage of experienced scale-up leaders and hiring difficulties.

Barriers to market access also feature prominently as a pain point the report identified, with procurement processes cited as restrictive and often misaligned with the needs of innovative companies. Access to capital remains another concern, particularly at growth stages where globally competitive funding is required.

The report also points to fragmentation across the support landscape, with overlapping agencies and complex pathways creating unnecessary friction for founders.

These issues, the Council warns, reduce Scotland’s competitiveness relative to international peers and hinder the ability of high-potential companies to scale.

Four core ambitions for global leadership

At the heart of Vision 2035 are four priority domains where – according to the report – Scotland is seen to have the greatest potential for global leadership, job creation, and export growth.

Becoming Europe’s leading AI-ready nation

The Council sets out an ambition for Scotland to become the number one AI-ready nation in Europe, underpinned by infrastructure, skills, and governance frameworks to enable responsible adoption.

Key proposals include the development of 5GW of sovereign inference data centre capacity, the creation of openly licensed datasets, and support for open-source AI model development.

Global green energy leadership

The report positions Scotland to lead in clean and low-cost energy through accelerated investment in generation, storage, and connectivity.

This includes a proposed £25 billion investment in green power infrastructure, alongside continued focus on areas such as photonics, quantum technologies, and power electronics. A national emphasis on static storage is also identified as a key enabler of grid resilience and renewable adoption.

Personalised and preventative healthcare

Vision 2035 highlights the opportunity to position Scotland at the forefront of health innovation through secure, integrated data systems.

The Council points to the potential of leveraging NHS data to support next-generation clinical research, alongside strengthening collaboration between healthcare providers, universities, and health tech innovators.

Advanced connectivity and critical technologies

Modernising telecoms infrastructure and strengthening capabilities in semiconductors and related technologies form the fourth pillar of the strategy.

The report emphasises the importance of resilient supply chains and next-generation connectivity to underpin Scotland’s future digital economy.

Delivering Vision 2035: four ‘moonshot’ strategies

To translate ambition into action, the Council proposes four “moonshot” strategies designed to accelerate growth and adoption across the ecosystem.

The first, 10x Global Capital, centres on the creation of a £100 billion National Economic Investment Fund aimed at attracting global investment into high-growth sectors. The fund would be delivered through a partnership spanning public, private, and third sectors.

The second, 10x Scale-ups, focuses on strengthening founder support through initiatives such as a national Founders Institute, expanded access to mentoring and operator-led learning, and an enhanced international presence, including in Silicon Valley.

The third, 10x Spinouts, aims to accelerate the commercialisation of research by improving pathways from discovery to venture formation, particularly across universities and the NHS.

Finally, 10x Purchasing – framed as a “Buy Scottish” approach – seeks to use procurement as a lever to stimulate early demand for domestic innovation and support SMEs in gaining real-world traction.

Addressing systemic friction

A recurring theme throughout the report is the need to reduce friction across four key areas: talent, leadership, markets, and finance.

The Council argues that the challenge is not simply the availability of talent, but the speed and flexibility with which companies can access it. Immigration timelines, skills mismatches, and limited availability of experienced scale leaders are all cited as barriers.

Leadership capacity is another concern, with many companies struggling to scale organisationally as they grow. The report highlights gaps in access to experienced executives and limited peer networks for firms operating at mid-scale revenue levels.

In markets, procurement is described as a barrier rather than a catalyst, with risk frameworks and proof-of-scale requirements often excluding SMEs from early opportunities.

On finance, the report identifies a gap in growth-stage capital, alongside concerns over investment timelines and founder control.

Underlying these challenges is what the Council describes as systemic fragmentation, with overlapping support structures and unclear accountability reducing efficiency across the ecosystem.

Strengthening global competitiveness

The report stresses that Scotland must benchmark itself not only against the UK, but against leading innovation nations such as Singapore, Estonia, and Ireland.

These countries are cited as examples of what can be achieved through focused investment, open data infrastructure, and alignment between government and high-growth industries.

To compete at this level, the Council calls for greater emphasis on international scaling, deeper collaboration with global companies, and a more investor-friendly environment.

AI strategy and early outcomes

Among its early actions, the Council established a dedicated AI sub-group to provide structured advice on artificial intelligence.

This group contributed to the development of Scotland’s AI Strategy 2026–2031, published on 20 March 2026, which sets out how the country intends to harness AI to drive economic growth and competitive advantage.

The Council describes its role as a key conduit between industry expertise and government policy development in this area.

Risks and constraints

The report also outlines a range of risks that could impact delivery of its ambitions.

These include pressures on the skills pipeline, infrastructure requirements for data centres, and the need for robust governance frameworks around data ethics, security, and privacy.

Cultural barriers are also highlighted, with risk-averse attitudes across parts of the public and private sectors seen as limiting innovation and slowing adoption of new technologies.

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Other concerns include high energy costs, barriers to intellectual property commercialisation, and capacity constraints within universities and the NHS.

The potential for disruption in key industries – including the creative sector – is also noted, alongside the need for careful transition planning – what that could actually look like is anybody’s guess.

The Council concludes that the next ten months represent a critical window for Scotland to define success, remove barriers, and build the infrastructure required to support long-term growth.

It emphasises that future prosperity will depend not only on the number of startups created, but on how effectively high-potential companies are supported to scale.

Success of Vision 2035, the report suggests, should be measured by tangible improvements – from faster hiring and easier access to capital, to increased domestic procurement opportunities and smoother pathways to international expansion.