CivTech Programme Director Mark Elliot wrote the announcement today, although the programme did not specify any new headquarters.

The government-backed programme opened their Studio at Codebase, the tech star-up hub, in 2016 before they opened their CivTech 1 Exploration Stage. The programme beings together different sectors to tackle problems affecting both national and local priorities using technology.

“We were – just like just about every tech start-up – ‘laying the tracks even as the train comes into town’, or ‘building the airplane as it’s taxiing on the runway’, or ‘skating on thin ice with the sound of cracking at our heels’ – whatever metaphor you choose, we were there,” Elliot’s statement read.

Initially, the start-up programme decided on launching in CodeBase to position themselves as “the centre of the tech start-up scene.” CodeBase offered this as well as credibility for the new venture combining the private, public, and third sector.

Elliot remarked that their Studio at CodeBase was a major aspect of CivTech’s growth and success.

As CivTech transformed from a small start-up to a credible accelerator programme, their Studio changed as well, from a small office with hand-me-down furniture to a redesign reflecting the intensifying Accelerator movement.

CivTech’s programmes have lead to new initiatives and collaborations between private companies, the public sector, and charities. Recently, a CivTech 7 challenge was adopted by the Scottish Government to use Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to help victims through the criminal court process.

Elliot says that CivTech simply wants to continue reflecting current changes and developments in the Scottish tech sphere, including changes specific to CivTech’s operational abilities.

“In May 2022 CivTech had confirmation of a £59.5 million allocation from the Scottish Government – £13.5 million to operate and £46 million to fund innovative companies responding to the Challenges we would develop during the lifetime of the current parliament,” the statement read.

“And just months earlier CivTech was featured in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation – the government’s ambitious plan to radically overhaul the economic delivery over the next ten years. We had gone from an early-stage start-up concept to something that is most definitely focused across the entire nation.”

Further, Elliot remarked that while at the start of CivTech the majority of the tech sector revolved around Edinburgh, that has also changed. Scotland has an expanding tech sector, and CivTech wants to reflect this by expanding as well.

The pandemic also shifted the way CivTech, and many companies, function. While they are leaving the Studio at Codebase, CivTech is not yet formally moving to a new headquarters. Instead, the accelerator plans to adopt a hybrid, flexible working model.

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“This frees us up to take CivTech to wherever in Scotland it makes sense,” Elliot said.

He added: “And in this we’re in lockstep with Codebase itself as it spreads its presence across the nation through the Techscaler project – another major government investment in the tech sector – and I’m sure we’ll be a regular presence wherever it lands.”

Elliot extended his thanks to CodeBase for their support throughout CivTech’s journey, but ultimately concluded that “it’s most definitely time for the next level.”