Being CEO of an organisation that makes itself as visible as ScotlandIS can often be an unenviable task.

While being a cheerleader for the Scottish tech ecosystem is easy, the challenge comes from honest self-reflection, deriving insight from data that holds real-world significance, and actioning long-term solutions for the benefit of Scottish tech.

There’s few that would argue against the fact that ScotlandIS CEO Karen Meechan and by extension, the trade body, has accomplished this admirably.

Meechan has been vociferously outspoken about the skills landscape in Scotland. At the launch of ScotlandIS’ Digital Critical Friends initiative last year, the organisation pointed out that 23% of Scottish tech businesses cited a lack of basic data skills and 37% reported a lack of advanced digital skills among their existing workforces.

It’s a drum that ScotlandIS continues to beat, lest the front-facing problems of Scottish tech be lost among the hype of AI, the sheen of new Scottish innovation spaces and the Scottish Government’s assurances that its tech and innovation mandate, almost wholly symbiotic with the Logan report, is well on track.

As ScotlandIS’ 14th Digital Technology Awards fast approaches its deadline for nominations, we took the chance to catch up with Meechan to discuss these issues and get the CEO’s take on a number of salient Scottish tech issues, old and new.

Are we setting ourselves up for more skills roadblocks?
“Who would have thought 10 years ago, we would be fighting the Scotch Whisky Society for a software engineer?”

The skills gap in the Scottish tech sector is a well-known issue. The tech industry is growing 1.5 times faster than any other industry in Scotland, and 1 in 10 job openings here are in tech.

Establishing talent pipelines has been a long-vaunted solution to the encroaching skills issue, with avenues like Glasgow Caledonian University graduate apprenticeships, the Digital Xtra Fund and ScotlandIS’ own Digital Critical Friends and Scholarship programmes serving as tangible solutions.

However, Meechan is forthcoming in her assessment that at the educational level, there’s trouble brewing.

She says: “University funding cuts mean tthat his year, there will be 1,200 less places.”

This has a two-fold negative effect, there’s the immediate dearth of students in training to directly fill job roles, but just as concerningly, universities are turning more and more to international students through a need to balance the books, and selling a world-class education is an easy way to do that.

While that’s not necessarily a problem in and of itself, within the context of the skills debate, it creates an issue in that “international students, while beneficial, can exacerbate the skills gap as they eventually take the skillsets they learn here home with them.”

Essentially, a balance must be maintained of using every avenue to keep our universities fiscally buoyant, while giving every opportunity we can to Scottish people to learn and retain their newly learned skills within the ecosystem.

Even this, however, may be challenging in the long-term, with new immigration rules coming this spring, it may be even more difficult for talented international students to stay in the UK and use their skills to contribute to the UK economy and tech sector.

According to Karen, addressing the skills gap requires concerted efforts and initiatives fostering a robust talent pipeline.

She says: “We absolutely need collaboration and initiatives that help create that talent pipeline,” she emphasizes. “Initiatives like the afore-mentioned Digital Xtra Fund and scholarships that bring critical digital skills into a place where they’re accessible to anyone.”

Talking about ScotlandIS’ own newly launched scholarships, Meechan beams: “We’ve created 12 scholarships, where these students will be given additional support in STEM skills, as well being fast-tracked into a college where they can further pursue a career in something STEM-related, such as software development or video game development.”

Essentially, the skills debate hasn’t changed much, and while it’s fantastic to see ScotlandIS’ introduction of scholarships to complement its many other initiatives, bigger picture issues such as cut university funding guarantee that the skills debate is one we’ll continue to have ad nauseum, despite the best efforts of organisations within the ecosystem.

Is the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Being Adequately Supported?
Meechan advocates for a holistic approach in supporting the tech ecosystem in Scotland. While skills are a “big challenge,” Meechan emphasises the need for more tangible assistance to help Scottish SMEs expand and grow.

Access to funding and investment is crucial for SMEs, and Meechan stresses the importance of making the process easier for them, arguing that there’s a tendency with Government-led initiatives to get startups to certain arbitrary milestones without going far enough to set them up for long-term sustained growth and viability as they inevitably strive to scale their business.

Discussing the role of the Scottish government in this context, Meechan highlights the significance of public sector contracts to help spearhead SME growth.

She says: “It’s about making sure that government knows what’s happening in Scotland, who’s doing what, and how they can access it. We need to support our SMEs to find that funding and access procurement opportunities,” she urges.

Reflecting on the impact of public sector contracts, Meechan says: “It’s that ticket an SME can take to other potential customers, showcasing the backing of the Scottish Government.”

The Digital Tech Awards
Ahead of its flagship annual awards ceremony on Thursday 2nd May, ScotlandIS has put out a final call for entries for its Digital Technology Awards ahead of the deadline later this month (26th February).

Now in its 14th year, the Digital Technology Awards seeks to celebrate the scale of true innovation and talent of Scotland’s digital economy, offering winners a level of credibility and a platform with which to be recognised amongst peers.

2024 sees several new award categories introduced, which includes the division of Product and Service Innovation into two separate awards, a Cyber Trailblazer award that aims to highlight the companies with novel solutions to cyber challenges, and the Digital Tech Rising Star award, looking to shine a light on early career talent and the leaders of tomorrow.

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On the upcoming ScotlandIS Tech Awards, Karen shares her enthusiasm, saying; “The Tech Awards are an opportunity for the sector to come together and celebrate achievements. It’s great to showcase what businesses are doing and the impact they’ve had over the last year.”

She introduces the new category, saying, "One of our new categories this year is Cyber Trailblazer, reflecting the thriving cyber cluster we have in Scotland.

“We’re doing lots of work in cyber, we’ve got the cyber cluster we’ve got an ITMS (managed service provider), we’ve created the best practice for our MSPs across Scotland, so it only made sense that we had like any cyber Trailblazer-type award.”