Techscaler is a tech startup support programme — backed by a £42 million contract from the Scottish Government, and delivered by Edinburgh-headquartered CodeBase — aiming to deliver on the key priorities outlined in the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Review (STER) report.

STAC, meanwhile — which is supported by Scottish Enterprise, CENSIS (Scotland’s Innovation Centre for sensing, imaging, and IoT technologies), and Glasgow-based product design firm Filament — is an accelerator helping scaling Scottish IoT startups to be globally competitive.

Startup founders participating in Techscaler and STAC are set to benefit from an expanded range of founder-oriented support, including mentorship, specialist expertise, education courses, a network of workspace hubs across the country, events and meetups, and STAC’s Glasgow design studio and prototyping lab space.

The design studio and lab in particular includes a 3D printing suite, laser cutters, CNCs (computer numerical controls), testing zones, and two rooms worth of tools to help founders develop and iterate hardware.

On the announcement, CodeBase’s Chief Strategy Officer, Steven Drost, said: “I am excited about this partnership, because it signals a moment of maturity for the ecosystem.

“The partnership brings together two different strands of startup building — software and hardware. Combining those strands enables both to learn and build and grow faster — this can only be a good thing for Scottish tech.”

STAC’s CEO and Co-founder Paul Wilson also commented, saying, “Since we launched in 2021, STAC’s mission has been to create a centre of excellence, an IoT tech cluster here in Scotland.

“Techscaler has the resources that will help us achieve that mission more rapidly. We admire the bold approach of CodeBase, and we share the common goal of developing companies for global competition.”

Scottish Government Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray added: “This partnership between the Techscaler programme and Filament STAC marks more progress towards Scotland becoming one of the world’s leading homes for start up businesses.

“The Internet of Things, by connecting devices from washing machines to driverless cars to the internet, promises previously unheralded opportunities for tech startup founders in Scotland.”

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The collaboration with STAC is the latest news regarding the £42m Techscaler programme.

In the last few months alone, Techscaler has launched a scaleup programme for Scottish tech entrepreneurs in partnership with Silicon Valley firm Reforge; established an NHS link-up for entrepreneurs to work alongside clinicians and gain access to patients and anonymised data to help test ideas, products, and services; and launched the “Startups First Steps” founders course in a bid to drive company creation and economic development.

DIGIT’s Graham Turner attended the launch event for the Startup First Steps course at the beginning of last month, and spoke to CodeBase’s VP of Education, Jim Newbery, to gain some insight into the programme, its creation, and its aims.

Here’s what he found out.